Dragon Emblem
by bijoukaiba
Summary: COMPLETE! Crossover with Rurouni Kenshin and Fire Emblem. OOCness, you have been warned! Anyways, full summary is inside, because there's not enough room to type it here. My very first story, so therefore not my best. I've kept it for sentimental reasons.
1. How Kaiba Met Kenshin

My Comments: I hope you like this story by me, and it contains five elements of 'famous TV\movie doo-hickey-thing-a-ma-jiggers'! It's cross between Rurouni Kenshin, Fire Emblem, and Yu-Gi-Oh (that's three, for those of you who can't count), but the story plays out in a cross between Star Fox and Balto (heh-heh... I recently saw the video and I loved it, so I thought it'd be pretty neat to add it to Yu-Gi-Oh, Rurouni Kenshin, and Fire Emblem^^). I think this one should be one of my best fics yet!

Espa Roba was the newly hired general of a world-protection agency known as the IDA. IDA stood for International Duelist Agency. If there was ever a crisis on some planet or in time or in some distant country, Espa would send off a duelist, two duelists, or minor organizations to help those in need.

Since the team of 'Star Raptor' (Amy: What'd I tell ya? Star Fox IS involved! The name's pretty cool, ya know?) was patrolling the galaxy in their space cruiser and the Rip Tides were exploring legendary ruins under the sea, there weren't many IDA agents left.

Yugi and Mai were still resting after their most recent mission, and Mokuba and Rebecca were too young to go on many of the missions. 

There was one agent still out working, and in fact, she was due to be returning within a few days. She used a time travel pod to go back in time to old Japan when a great medicine was known, but only by a few people. Her goal? Find a medicine man (or woman) and bring the medicine back to the present. Then go and deliver the medicine to a tribe in Africa with children that had come down with a mysterious disease, and the only cure was THAT medicine. 

General Espa suddenly received a transmission from the female agent. 

"General Espa."

"Yes, Serenity?"

"I've got the medicine. I did not need to fight to get some. A nice doctor named Megumi Takani was more than happy to donate some to me. She's VERY nice."

"Well, I'm glad there was no need to fight. Nothing personal, but you aren't necessarily the strongest fighter."

"I know that, sir. I should be back by this evening."

"Very good."

"Serenity out."

Serenity would only need about an hour's walk to return to her time travel pod. As she walked off to her pod, she heard an evil laugh, and Megumi, a witness to all of this occurring, cried, "Serenity! Miss Serenity! Look out!" Serenity turned around and screamed, but she blacked out and collapsed to the ground.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The next day... 

Espa Roba paced around the meeting room, a hand on his temple. "I need an aspirin..." he said.

Yugi and Mai walked into the room (or, more like, Yugi walked in and Mai wheeled in, as the mission they had taken two weeks ago had fractured Mai's leg) and noticed the respected general of the IDA pacing around the room. 

Yugi, the shy and quiet type, wanted to say something, but didn't speak. 

However, Mai, the arrogant, I-wanna-know-what's-happening-now!-type, opened her big mouth and said, "Spill it, boss. Something's wrong." Espa looked up and said, "Oh Mai, Yugi, it was so horrible! Serenity has been captured!" Yugi and Mai gasped. Without Serenity and the medicine, the African children would die! 

Espa said, "We need someone to go on this mission! It is too important! But yet both of you are too weak, and the Rip Tides and Star Raptor are off on other missions."

Mokuba had been passing by the office, and couldn't help but overhear. "Ya need someone to go on a mission to rescue Serenity? I'll do it!" he exclaimed in a squeaky voice. 

Espa turned angrily to the young boy. "You'll do no such thing! You're too young!" 

Mokuba scowled and stuck up his nose as he walked by the door.

Yugi finally spoke up. "Well.... there is one more person we could try..."

Espa felt his brain smash against his skull as he turned his head swiftly to face Yugi. "No.... you can't be thinking.... _anyone_ but him, Yugi... you can't be thinking..."

"Of course I am."

The general held his breath, then sighed. "Okay, look," he said, "we'll let him ATTEMPT the mission. If he fails, you're also taking some of the fall!"

Yugi frowned. "He is NOT gonna fail."

"For the sake of Serenity Wheeler and the African children, you'd better be right!"

Yugi smiled. "I know I am."

Dragon Emblem

Espa chatted with the recruit who Yugi suggested.

"We use a type of currency here known as Duel Points. You complete this mission, we get you enough points for a spaceship, sub, land base, and enough Points to suit them up!"

"I see."

"So then... what do you think? Will you save the girl-err, I mean, princess for the duel points?"

"That princess....is as good as saved. I'll do it."

"Whew! Thank you very much! I knew we could count on you! Thank you.... Seto Kaiba."

"Yeah. Now, as for where I'm going..."

"Oh, right! Mai, will you show Mr. Kaiba to his time pod?"

"I most certainly will, General Espa."

"Huh? How'd you get into a wheelchair, Mai?"

"It doesn't matter, Kaiba! Very good, Mai!"

"I am glad you are pleased. Come on, Kaiba,"

"I'm coming."

Mai lead Seto Kaiba into a room where a control podium stood, Yugi sitting at the chair by the podium. "Thanks for taking the mission, Seto!" Yugi complimented.

"That's Kaiba." he replied. 

Five switches were on the podium next to Yugi's seat, the same number of pods in the room. They looked similar to his virtual pods, only a bit more circular shaped than oblong. He sat down in the blue one. Yugi pulled the switch, and Kaiba disappeared... along with his pod. 

The view around Kaiba was that of stars soaring past. His radio transmitter suddenly spoke up.

"SK, do you read? This agent YM. Do you copy?"

"YM? SK? What the HELL do you mean??"

"Your agent name is SK. Mine is YM. Our _real _names are Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba. Do you copy?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Now listen to me. This is set on autopilot for your destination of ancient Japan. It's gonna transport you there, okay?"

"Whatever. Now, what's the main idea of my mission?"

"I was just getting to that, SK!"

"DON'T call me that!"

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Anyway, you've gotta find agent SW."

"Who?"

"Serenity. Joey's sister."

"Oh... her..."

"Huh? Anyway, you've gotta find her and GET THAT MEDICINE BACK! Without it, many ill African children may die!"

"All right. Find a girl. No problem."

"Of course, you may need to fight... she was after all kidnapped..."

"Then I'll also find a weapon!"

"All right then... after you find her, then you gotta escort her to Africa and make sure the children get the medicine. Then you'll get your Duel Points. Good luck! You've gotta do it for the children!"

"I will... but I'm in this for the money... I mean, Duel Points.... NOT the children!"

"Whatever. You'll reach your destination in about two hours. Yugi out."

Two hours later...

Seto Kaiba woke up suddenly from his nap. A loud siren had awoken him. He looked at the status screen. 

AUTO PILOT FAILURE

"WHAT?!" Kaiba exclaimed. He tapped at the screen. 

"But I don't know how to drive this thing!"

He slammed his fists down hard on the screen. Kaiba yelled as he saw the outdoor display screen and saw everything flying past him, the ground growing nearer.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!! Whoa! Neat, a dojo! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Sanosuke watched a blue sphere come flying down through the sky and heard it crash.

"Oh man!" he cried.

"It hit the Kamiya Dojo! I hope Kenshin and the others are okay!"

Yahiko put down his sword. 

"Kaoru, did you hear that?"

Kaoru looked at her apprentice.

"I did! It sounded like it came from out there..."

"Where Kenshin is!"

"I hope he's okay!"

Yahiko and Kaoru ran out to where Kenshin was. He was staring at a giant blue orb. Kaoru ignored the giant sphere and ran over and hugged the one she secretly loved.

"Kenshin! You're okay!"

"Oro? Miss Kaoru, Yahiko, what do you think this giant sphere is?"

Sanosuke came running up to them. 

"Kenshin, Kaoru, are you guys- whoa! What the hell is that?"

"Sano!"

"Yo Kenshin."

Yahiko caught their attention. "Hey look!" he cried. "It's opening!"

The unconscious Seto Kaiba had hit the "Open Door" button after collapsing. He tumbled out onto the ground. Kenshin ran over to him.

"It's a boy, older than Yahiko and younger than Sano... he's probably fifteen or sixteen. He appears injured." 

Kaoru, feeling sorry for him, said, "Kenshin, bring him inside the dojo. We can get Megumi to help nurse him back to health."

Kenshin picked up Seto Kaiba from the ground and carried him in. 

When Megumi saw the CEO, her heart was warmed, and she greatly accepted him as her patient. She tucked him up snugly in a warm floor mat, and bandaged his scratched arm.

Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke sat down on the floor, waiting for Megumi's patient (and most likely their new friend) to awaken. They started to chat, but Yahiko and Kaoru ended up arguing as usual. 

They stopped, noticing that something had caught the attention of Kenshin and Sanosuke. 

"Hey Kenshin," Yahiko said, "what's up?"

"Look!" replied the legendary swordsman.

Yahiko and Kaoru turned and noticed what had caught Kenshin's attention. 

Megumi's patient had sat up, rubbing his arm. He was shocked to feel the bandage, and the cotton against his skin. He was used to leather.

Kaiba suddenly turned to see the five faces (Megumi sitting beside him) looking at him. 

"Gah!" Kaiba cried, "Who are you?" 


	2. Spending The Day With The Battousai

Dragon Emblem

Chapter 2: You're Who?

Seto Kaiba shivered. These strangers looked strong... and he was without a weapon. Perhaps his Duel Disk (although his deck was not inserted) would be scary-looking enough to ward them off. 

Kaiba cried, "Behold the horror of my Duel Disk!"

Yahiko looked at him confused. 

"What do you mean, Duel Disk?"

Kaiba looked at his wrist. 

"Gah! My beautiful Duel Disk! Gone! And I'm wearing some sort of funky cotton outfit!"

Kaoru replied, "You need not worry. Your clothes were awfully worn, we even noticed the belts hanging off your shirt sleeves to keep them tied together and that your jacket sleeves were ripped off! So we changed you into some of Kenshin's clothes and burned your old stuff."

Seto Kaiba frowned. "Kenshin? Who are you people?"

Kenshin smiled. "Oro? Oh yes, we weren't introduced. I am Kenshin Himora."

"I'm Sanosuke Sagara."

"Yahiko Myojin"

"Kaoru Kamiya."

"Megumi Takani. I'm the one who took care of you and bandaged you up and tucked you in snugly! Kaoru, you can have Kenshin. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Seto Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "No. I have not found a girl for me. I don't plan to find one, either."

Megumi replied, "Oh..." and sighed, looking down on the floor.

Kaoru spoke up, "So then... who are you?"

"I am Seto Kaiba."

Kenshin said, "Well then, Seto,"

"I prefer Kaiba."

"Well then, Kaiba,"

"Yes.... Kenshin is it? Yeah, Kenshin. What?"

"Just curious, but what brings you here? You must have an interesting story to accompany that interesting sphere, that you must... your transport method, I suppose?"

"Well, I gotta save this girl. She picked up some medicine and was gonna deliver it to some African tribe... but she was kidnapped."

Megumi was startled by this and looked up.

"By any chance, was her name Serenity?"

"Yes! That's her!"

"I gave her the medicine! I even witnessed her capture! Her captor was hidden in the shadows of the forest, but she was here!"

"If any harm comes to her, then-"

"You seem awful worried about her if she's not your girlfriend," Yahiko commented.

Kaiba glared at him. "Be still, would you! I've gotta save her so we can deliver the medicine to Africans and I can earn some well-deserved Duel Points! That's our currency."

Kenshin nodded. "Well, this enemy must be pretty mysterious, most likely meaning he's got great power. He almost reminds me of Shishio."

Kaiba figured that Shishio was an enemy of this man. "So then... what am I gonna do about this?"

Yahiko obviously had to butt in once more. "DUH! Ya gotta fight and find a way to defeat that crap-headed enemy!"

Kaiba was about to object, but Sanosuke added in, "Yeah! Kenshin's one of the best swordsmen ever! He could teach you the Hiten Mitsurugi style!"

Kenshin practically stood up for Kaiba by saying, "Wait Sanosuke. We don't have any reverse-blade swords. He would have to kill his enemies!"

"Well, sometimes we gotta make a sacrifice or two."

"Sanosuke is right!" Megumi said. "Even though he may need to kill his enemies, if he doesn't find a way to free Miss Serenity, she can't deliver the medicine! And if she is unable to deliver the medicine... then it's only so clear what will happen to those ill African children!"

Kenshin sighed. "Very well then. Kaiba and I will go out and we shall purchase a sword at a shop-"

"No way! They just sell swords here at little pawn shops?!"

"Hey Kaiba, it's not real nice to interrupt Kenshin!"

"Yahiko, calm down. Yes, we shall purchase one for you, then I will teach you the art of swordplay."

Yes, right here Yahiko barged in. Kaiba watched the kid wave his arms in excitement as he spoke. 

"Aw, yeah! Kaiba you are SOOO lucky! Kenshin is like, the best swordsman in all Japan!"

Kenshin smiled at the young one, and said to Kaoru, "I will be gone for only a little while. I'll be back in an hour max."

Kaoru placed her hands on Yahiko's shoulders as the tall swordsman walked over to Kaiba. 

Kaiba breathed deeply, somehow feeling overwhelmed about learning swordplay.

Placing a hand on the shoulder of the IDA recruit, Kenshin said, "Then shall we go, Mr. Kaiba?" 

Seto nodded in agreement.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Many small little homes were placed along the roads of Japan. Men sat by small curio stands, with fish hooks and knives for sale. Women sat upon blankets with different pots and beautiful kimonos to sell. Little girls drew pictures in the sand with sticks. Littler ones played with dolls. Boys only a few years younger than Yahiko laughed and chased each other. A kid flew a kite.

Kenshin suddenly faced left. Kaiba, paying attention to the scenery, was caught off guard and bumped into the Batosai. 

"Watch yourself so you do not stumble," Kenshin said. Kaiba was getting annoyed with Batosai Babble 101.

Kaiba looked up at the building they stood by. The roof and walls were painted a jade green color, and the frame was obviously wooden. Kenshin walked up to the gate.

"Come on," he said with a warm and gentle smile, as if they were buying flowers instead of a sword. 

Despite the fact that it was nowhere near as tall as KaibaCorp or the headquarters of the IDA, Kaiba was rather uneasy about the fact that killing weapons were inside. After all, no futuristic devices like pepper spray were around. Fighting mainly depended on the fighter, and Seto Kaiba was no Kenshin Himora. 

Natural nervous instincts kicked in, and Kaiba rubbed at the sleeve of his maroon kimono uneasily.

"Nervous?" Kenshin asked with a friendly smile.

"N-no," Kaiba replied, almost unable to catch himself from stammering. "your clothes are just kinda uncomfortable. That's all."

Kenshin rolled his eyes in a happy manner, and walked over and put his arm around Kaiba's shoulders. 

"It's alright, my friend; we will get you a sword, then come back out, that we will. No fighting is necessary." 

"Uh... thanks." Kaiba grinned uneasily as he moved his left hand to escape Kenshin's one-arm hug, and moved his right to open the gate. Kaiba breathed deeply as they walked inside.

No sooner had they come in than they had come out. Kaiba had a small smile as he held up his sword, the tip of its blade gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. He sheathed it as Kenshin tapped him on the shoulder. 

"Hm? What is it, Kenshin?"

"I must tell you something, Seto-"

"Hey, I said don't call me-"

"I said your first name because this is very serious."

"O....kay......" 

"Listen Seto. When you use a sword, remember one thing. A sword is often long and thin like a line. And any sword is a line. A _line_ between life and death. I feel this way about swordfights and you should too. Your sword is not the reverse blade type, so therefore it is a killer. I don't necessarily like to say this, but kill if it is only necessary if it is to defend yourself or others." 

"Very well then, I will remember that."

"You don't want to end up like I did, as the Batosai."

"Huh?"

"I used to kill people, but now I fight with a reverse-blade sword. When I was a killer, I was the Batosai; now I am Kenshin Himora the wanderer."

"I see."

All this talk had taken their mind off the walk, and in only minutes they stood before the Kamiya Dojo. As they walked in, Sanosuke said, "There's no need to worry. Megumi will bandage you up should anything go wrong."

Kaiba looked at him confused. "Huh?"

Sanosuke gave him a 'duh!' face, "You ARE training with Kenshin!"

"Oh yeah... I forgot."

Megumi and Sanosuke were the only ones witnessing this, as Yahiko and Kaoru had decided to join some of their friends for dinner.

Kenshin said, "Hmmm.... where to begin.... say, I know! This is basic."

Kaiba looked up at his teacher, standing six feet away from him. 

"To begin, I will teach you something that swordsmen often know. I am going to teach you the art of Bato Jitsu."

Kaiba smirked grimly, "Okay, I'm ready for Bato Jinzo. Wait- what the hell is Bato Jinzo?"

"Bato _Jitsu_, Kaiba. The art of drawing your sword. Bato Jitsu is about drawing your sword before your opponent. Now, let's begin."

Kaiba scratched at his kimono. 

"My clothes still giving you trouble?" Kenshin asked with a tease. Kaiba nodded grimly.

The CEO fixed his eyes on his teacher, his icy blue eyes staring down Kenshin's bright purple ones.

He merely blinked and Kenshin disappeared. Kaiba fell to his knees, shutting his eyes tightly, hands clasped against his head.

"Don't kill meeeee!" he pleaded.

Megumi clapped a hand to her forehead, and Sanosuke chortled, "Heh... that's so pathetic of Kaiba..."

Kenshin said, "I know it now, you are nervous."

He knelt down and placed his hands on the trembling shoulders of Seto Kaiba. Kaiba shifted his gaze to meet Kenshin's eyes.

Kenshin smiled and put his finger under Kaiba's chin so they were face-to-face. Kaiba's lip quivered a bit, but he managed to stop when he saw Kenshin smile. 

"As you say, 'chill out'. I cannot hurt you. My sword is the reverse-blade type, so you will not be KILLED. I highly doubt I could really harm you, and that would have to be by clumsiness, but I can assure you I will not be clumsy, that I will not. Even if I were to some how accidentally harm you, the most you could really suffer would be a treatable wound (pausing to point at Megumi who winked in a flirty way at Kaiba. Seto: -_-U)."

Kaiba replied, "It's not that... it's just.... I have a regular, KILLING sword. What if I were to harm you somehow?"

Kenshin chuckled. "I do not wish to brag, but I am quite the skilled swordsman. There is a 99% chance that I'll block your attack, but I don't think you are even that skilled. Currently you are a novice, but I promise I'll help you be a true swordsman. Now stand up, and let's try again."

Kaiba stood up and placed his hand on the handle of his sword. He watched Kenshin carefully, and when Kenshin drew his sword, Kaiba, although unprepared, drew his sword out so that Kenshin's was a mere six inches from his chest.

Kenshin smiled. "Fairly good for the first try. Now, try it again, only this time, try to draw your blade quicker to match mine."

Kaiba sheathed his sword, then faced Kenshin.

They continued this practice for many times, for each one, Seto drew his blade quicker and quicker. The first one, the blade was a foot away. Then two. Then he started to feel tired, so the next one was six inches, but he managed to keep his strength up and keep the blade two feet away again. On the final draw, Kaiba and Kenshin's blades practically crashed into each other dead center. 

"Excellent work, Kaiba! You have performed satisfactory in Bato Jitsu. I do believe you are ready to fight, that I do."

"Uh... great! But now, can I ask for a small reward?"

"I suppose so, Seto..."

Kaiba placed a hand on his stomach. 

"All this training has made me hungry!"

"All right then, I shall prepare you a nice dinner. Do you like sushi and crab & rice stir-fry?"

"Well, I like sushi... and crab.... and rice..... yes!"

Sanosuke spoke up, "Then you are very lucky, because that is Kenshin's specialty! I'd bet he makes the best sushi and crab & rice stir-fry in all Japan! Maybe even in the whole world!"

Kenshin smiled sheepishly. "Then sushi and stir-fry it is!"

Kaiba enjoyed dinner that night, and although the floor mat he had in Kenshin's room was a real back-breaker, he was warm and toasty, and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning, he was kicked in the side by Yahiko. 

"Hey Kaiba! Wake up! Or you'll be late! Or have you forgotten?"

"Forgotten what?"

Ta-Da! Part 2 complete! Forgive me for the YAOI between Kaiba and Kenshin! I don't know what happened to me! 


	3. Kaiba vs Oracle

Dragon Emblem

My Comments: I really appreciate thy reviews, my royal subjects! (whoops, sorry bout the queen-of-hearts attitude, I just beat Musclefoot on StarFox. Finally!) Anyway, it turns out I've been spelling the last name of Kenshin wrong. It's Himura, not Himora (big thanks 2 beriath! They gave me my first review. Sorry if I also misspelled your name too. ^_~). Sorry! From now on, when I'm not being stupid after I'm brain-dead from doing algebra (XD), I will try to spell Kenshin HIMURA correctly. Oh, and another thing: this story also ties in with StarFox because it plays out in somewhat of a videogame pattern. And now, on to Chp. 3! 

Chapter 3: Kaiba vs. Oracle in Mellow Pine Forest

Kaiba sat up as he heard Kenshin's orders.

"Go to Mellow Pine Forest? Well, I guess I have learned enough about Bato Jitsu and sword fighting.... I guess I'm ready."

"And beware of the one named Oracle. A very powerful sorceress, that she is. I think that therefore, you'd best not bother with her."

Kaiba stood up and walked off with Kenshin to breakfast. A meal of eggs was out, and some green tea, too. 

Kaiba stared at his plate with narrowed eyes, a somewhat disgusted face.

"Is something troubling you, Se- Kaiba?"

"I don't like eggs."

Sanosuke, gulping down some tea, said, "Well, Kaiba, you have NEVER tried Kenshin's cooking."

Sanosuke licked his chops before continuing.

"He rocks at preparing soup, rice, and meats, but he's also fairly good with eggs."

Kaiba fingered his chopsticks properly, then tried a mere bite of the eggs. 

Before long, Kenshin had to rush back and forth from the kitchen. 

"Seto, haven't you had enough eggs? You've already had ten helpings. Think about the chickens!"

Kaiba was so busy attacking his meal he hadn't noticed that Kenshin had addressed him incorrectly.

"No way, Kenshin! These are the best eggs I've ever had!"

Finally, after about twelve more helpings of eggs, Kaiba laid back contently and sipped his tea.

"Ahh.... life is actually good.... for once. If only Mokuba could see me now..."

Kaoru finished a sip of tea and asked, "Who's Mokuba, Kaiba?"

"Hmm? Oh. Mokuba is my little brother. I'm five years older than him, so therefore he's ten."

"I see."

Kenshin suddenly remembered that Seto had never gone off to fight.

"Seto, what are you doing? Don't forget now, you have to go to Mellow Pine Forest!"

He pulled Kaiba from his comfortable seat, oddly impolite for Kenshin Himura (((bijoukaiba: See?))), and began to shove him towards the door. 

"I said to call me-"

"No time to talk, that there isn't. Go! Go off to Mellow Pine Forest!"

"When?"

"NOW!"

Kenshin gave Kaiba a strong yet gentle shove off in the direction of his destination.

"Best of luck!"

"Hmm? Why, Kenshin?"

"Because I have heard of a great enemy. He is lying in wait for you at another destination, but he is not important, or at least, not at the moment. He is the same enemy who kidnapped your friend Serenity."

"Oh... the princess..." (((bijoukaiba: I think I should get something straight if you're confused about Serenity working for the IDA and also being a princess. If you remember from Chp. 1, Espa called Serenity a 'princess'. I intended it to be so that Espa was tricking Kaiba into doing the mission. Bad place for an explanation, I know. ^^;; Read on!)))

"Err... yeah. The 'princess'"

"Anyway, what do I gotta do?"

"There will be two artifacts. One is a red stone, carved into the shape of an 'F'. The other one will be a clue as to who your final enemy will be. I cannot give any advice on what to expect. All I can say is that it will have something in common with your enemy. By the time you go off to face your enemy, you should have seven clues and seven letters."

"That's fourteen items. And when I get through here, I will have two."

"Yes."

"Well, that sounds easy enough. I'll do it!"

And with a twirl of his sword, Seto Kaiba walked off.

After walking for about ten minutes, some soldiers started to appear in the woods. There were only four, but they were each armed with a mace. 

"We work for Oracle!"

"If ya wanna get by here, slim, ya gotta beat us!"

"Show us what kind of swordsman you are!"

"Ha-ha! Yeah, ha-ha!" (the fourth one obviously the idiot of the group)

The leader, the one who had stated that they worked for Oracle, said, "Tell you what. We may go easy on ya. IF you can beat me in Bato Jitsu."

Nervous as he was, Seto accepted the offer. He placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and watched his opponent. He shifted his glance to the soldier's feet, kicking at the sand. He stopped kicking. Seto looked up so they were eye to eye. 

Suddenly, the two men drew their swords as fast as they could, but it did not matter.

The winner was Seto Kaiba. 

The soldier lay on the ground, coughing up blood, until he finally gave a final wheeze and died. 

The other three gasped.

"Boss!"

"Oh my god, is he dead?"

"Uh... why's he sleeping?"

"Hey!" Seto called. "I thought you were going to fight me."

The second soldier backed off. 

"Th-that's okay... anyone who can beat our boss is apparently a very good swordsman."

He whispered to the other two, "Let's leave before he kills us."

"But if Oracle finds out, she'll kill us too."

"We'll also have to take naps?"

The three ran off and as they did, the fourth soldier, the idiot, cried, "Bye-bye! Don't let the boss oversleep!"

Seto watched them run off, then leapt up in the air with joy. He had defeated his first enemy! He did feel bad for the man on the ground, but like Kenshin had said, he had tried to kill him, so it was right to defend himself, although it meant taking a life.

He gave a solemn bow, then walked off, continuing north.

He noticed his sword was covered in blood. 

"Ew..." Kaiba moaned, and wiped it off with the handkerchief in his pocket.

Walking north was taking an awful long time. Eventually, Kaiba came across a seedy merchant. 

"Hiya!"

"Um..."

"I got a neat little blowtorch. If you want it, you gotta tell me- who is currently the master of the Kamiya Dojo?"

"I am so glad I was introduced to everyone and not just Kenshin. I believe her name is Kaoru Kamiya, yes?"

"Yes indeed! This blowtorch is very much yours. Whenever you see a red emblem on something or a vent, try using that. There's no telling what chaos, I mean, rewards await you!"

Kaiba took the blowtorch into his hands. He practiced firing it for a while. The flames did not reach out very far, so he figured it was best used on the red emblems and vents like the salesman had said. Bored that he couldn't make enemy flambé, Kaiba shoved the blowtorch into his backpack.

He continued to walk on until he saw a red emblem attached to a tree. He fired and hit it, and then a key tumbled out onto the ground. He had no idea what it was for, so he kept it in his pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHAT?!"

"He beat up our leader!"

"All it took was one swipe of the sword-"

"And gave our boss a nap" (once again, here was the idiot)

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"Well... he's tall and thin...."

"He has brown hair and blue eyes...."

"He was wearing a blue kimono..."

"Uh.... why?"

"Because I want to be able to get revenge on the one who killed my best officer! If necessary, I will fight him myself. Otherwise, I'll offer 1000 yen for his head!" (((bijoukaiba: I know a little bit about Japan, but I don't really know how yen works. I just figured that 1000 yen would be a lot. Read on!)))

"Ooh... I better catch that guy for the yen!"

"Uh.... I already have a chick-yen."

"GET TO WORK!"

The three officers replied to their leader, "Yes, Miss Oracle!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seto Kaiba found himself staring at a large building. After walking around it once, he noticed a vent by the door. Remembering what the merchant had said, he ignited the blowtorch at the vent, and the metal doors opened. 

As they opened, who should come running out but the same three soldiers who were with the one that he had previously defeated. 

"Hey! You look like the guy who gave boss a nap! He still hasn't waken up yet!" (yes, this was the idiot)

"Dumbass, that's cause he is!"

"You are gonna pay for that!"

"Yeah, and at the price of 1000 yen... and your head!"

Kaiba drew his sword as the soldiers grabbed their maces. The first took a large whack at Kaiba. Seto had been caught off guard (as odd as it sounds), and was whacked in the side. He moaned for a moment, then slashed his sword right through the enemy. The second guy got almost as close as the first, but when he was six inches from Seto, he slashed his sword once again, and another enemy fell. And as you can tell, it didn't take long to defeat the idiot.

"Hey look! Your boss is awake!"

"He is?"

SLASH

The idiot dropped to the floor, a gaping wound on his side. Kaiba walked past them to the last door, with a lock on it. His key fit the hole perfectly, and soon the door was open. 

As Seto walked in, the sorceress with the long white hair turned around. 

"Gah! You! The one who defeated my best soldier... and his three henchmen!"

"Yes. It's me."

"You are in so much trouble, boy!"

"The name is Seto. Seto Kaiba!"

"Charmed. Let me tell you a REAL name of power. My name is Oracle!"

Kaiba murmured to himself, "Shit. She's the one Kenshin told me to stay away from!"

A beam of white energy was flung at him, and Kaiba barely dodged. There was nothing to do but fight back!

Kaiba tried shielding himself from her blows with his sword, but he knew that although he was blocking off most of her attack, she was still strong enough to fight.

When Kaiba dropped his shield, Oracle fired another beam of energy at him again. He tried hitting it with his sword, but to no avail. The energy beam hit him, and Kaiba was sent tumbling backwards. 

The last idea he had was Bato Jitsu. When Oracle fired another beam at him, he drew out his sword rapidly, as if it were an enemy's sword. It worked! The beam of energy was sent hurtling back at her. 

"What's going on?!" she exclaimed.

After four blasts of energy being deflected, Oracle was finally down. Her body vanished into thin air, and all that remained was her pale blue dress. Kaiba saw two lumps in it, and felt around for them. Just like Kenshin said, there was a red 'F' there, and so was... a paintbrush?

Kaiba said, "Well, whoever my enemy is, they sure love to paint! But that's not enough. I need more clues! But for now, I best head back to the Kamiya Dojo!" He gathered up the clues and ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kaiba!"

"Hey Sanosuke!"

"Lemme guess, gonna go find Kenshin?"

"Uh-huh."

"Out in the back."

"Kay, thanks!"

Seto ran out to the back of the dojo. At last, he spotted his teacher, sitting under a tree, reading. 

"Kenshin!"

"Seto! That was rather quick. You left at about eight this morning. It's already ten in the morning and you have the clues, I presume?"

"Yes."

Kaiba pulled the red 'F' and the paintbrush from his backpack.

"Um... tah-dah?"

Kenshin chortled and held the two artifacts.

"Well, two down and twelve more to go, that I know. These are indeed the first two artifacts! I'll just hold on to these until you need them. And as for the clue, it is only so obvious that it is a paintbrush. Perhaps your enemy is creative and artistic.... or perhaps was once an artist. Anyway, congratulations! You can spend the rest of the day off."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day passed by quickly, and it was not long until Yahiko came crashing into Kaiba's room the next morning.

"SETO KAIBA!!!!! Kenshin wants to see you again!!!!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: Hello! I need you to vote on a name for the 'boss' in the next chapter. Oracle was the 'boss' here. So, should it be....

A. Ogri,

B. Salasmar (SAL-ass-mahr),

or 

C. Kishamaru (KEE-shuh-mahr-roo)

Vote for a boss name! If one of these gets five votes it'll win, or if I think your name is the evilest, I'll use it!

Oh, and another thing, when you vote..... TO REVIEW IS GOOD!!!!!!!!


	4. Kaiba Kills Kisara, and Meets Marth!

bijoukaiba: Hi!!!!! Remember how I mentioned Fire Emblem earlier on would be in this story! Well, here the YGO x FE begins! And I have decided... the 'boss' will be.... Kisara! Big thanks again 2 beriath!!! beriath also says it should probably be battou jittsu, so I'll just spell it thataway. Anyway, let's begin! And let me take care of something I had forgotten to do in previous chapters:

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, Rurouni Kenshin, or Yu-Gi-Oh! (and it's just not fair, is it?!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Four: Kaiba Kills Kisara, then Meets Marth!

Kaiba looked up annoyed at Yahiko. 

"Must you always do this?"

"Well, I heard from your boss you sleep like a rock!"

"WHAT?! How do you know Espa Roba?!"

Seto Kaiba ran out to the main room of the dojo, only wearing the pale white pants Kenshin lent him. And he was shocked at what he saw.

Sanosuke was tapping furiously at HIS laptop.

Kaoru pushed some buttons on HIS PDA.

Kenshin talked into HIS communicator.

"I must go now, Mokuba. Your brother is here. Sayonara!"

He clicked off the communicator.

"Konnichiwa, Seto-san! Your brother says hi. How are you on this fine morning?"

Megumi drooled at Seto's bare chest (((bijoukaiba: Can you blame her? *hearts fly around head*))), after all, he was only wearing pants.

"Kenshin! Kaoru! Sanosuke! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY STUFF?!"

Kaoru spoke up.

"Well, after Kenshin and I rescued you, Sanosuke and I went back to explore the sphere that had crashed into the dojo's garden. Inside we found your communicator, PDA, and laptop. We found the instruction manuals as well, and so we kinda just figured everything out!"

Then Kenshin spoke up.

"Seto, your next task is ready. You will have to head to the IcyMoon Caverns. There, you will find the second pair of artifacts, that you will: another clue and letter. After this, you will have four artifacts, and you will need to get ten more."

"Right."

"And I might suggest you put on more clothes."

"Oh! Heh-heh, right."

Seto quickly changed into an outfit of Kenshin's; this one was green instead of blue.

"Good luck Seto! May fortune be with you! And be careful as always, that you must!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Bye!"

Seto ran off to the northwest to the IcyMoon Caverns. Halfway there, he encountered a seedy merchant. 

"You know, you look like the same guy who sold me that torch."

"Oh! That's my... uh, brother, yes! Anyway, if you have some yen with you, I'll let ya purchase a fancy lantern! What do you say? As a free bonus, I'll upgrade your torch to shoot further away and fight enemies!"

"Uh... okay! Sure!"

"That'll be twenty yen."

"Okay, I can afford it! And I've got a fair amount of cash left!"

Seto handed the money to the shopkeeper, and he handed the torch, now upgraded, and the lantern, to our hero.

"Thanks! Later dude!"

"See ya later, suck-, I mean, dude!"

Seto ran onwards until he found interest in a tall tree, with pale brown flowers that had bright red edges on the petals, like a small fire. He picked a few flowers, put them into the lantern, and turned on his blowtorch to ignite them. The flowers had a bright red glow when lit, so Seto picked a few more and put them into his backpack. 

After all, the cavern would probably be pretty dark, why not bring along some extra fuel for his lantern?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Espa?"

"What is it, Yugi?"

"Do you think Kaiba is doing well on his mission?"

"Absolutely!"

"How did you get him to go?"

"Oh, I tricked him. Serenity is just another agent here, you know. She's not a princess."

"Damn.... Kaiba was pretty stupid to fall for that, then."

"Yep. All agents are pretty stupid compared with me."

"Anyway, you were also taking care of Mokuba while Seto was out. How is he?"

"He's been doing well. He's asleep in his room."

Yugi and Espa went to check.

"Huh? Agent MK is gone!"

"Maybe he just went to the bathroom, Yugi. That's probably it."

Suddenly, Mai wheeled into the room.

"General Espa! One of our time pods is missing! I didn't see who was in it, though, but the destination was... ancient Japan...."

Yugi and Espa looked at each other.

"Mokuba! Uh-oh......"

"And you said all agents are pretty stupid compared with you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At last, Seto found the cavern he was looking for. Looking around, he saw three red emblems. He shot a flare from the blowtorch at each of these, and a red gem fell to the ground. Unaware of what it was for, Seto simply picked it up, put it into his backpack, and walked deeper into the cave.

Ten minutes later, Seto ran into two soldiers. He defeated them easily with his upgraded blowtorch, then picked up another mysterious gem they had dropped; this one was blue. He put it into his backpack, and kept walking. 

Finally, he saw a small vent on the ground. He shot his blowtorch at it, and a white gem came out. He picked it up, and put it into his backpack. 

After walking for an even longer while (Seto was obviously getting tired and bored with all this walking), he came across a large door, with three spots in it, shaped and colored like the gems he had recovered. 

Placing each gem where it should go, the door automatically opened.

Seto walked in, taking extreme caution.

The room was wide, spacious, and had a small amount of light in it. The walls were stained gray from the rock colors. Crystal puddles of water had been formed from the dripping moisture from the stalactites. 

Across the room, there was also a jail cell. Seto ran over to it, curious to see if anyone was inside. And there was.

A teenager. He appeared to be about the same age as Sanosuke, which was 18. He wore handsome fabrics of pale and dark blue. He had a beautifully handled sword in the sheath on his belt. The prisoner had dark bluish-black hair, and he wore a golden headpiece in it. 

Seto tapped his shoulder. 

"You okay?"

The teenager stirred, and faced Seto with his sparkling green eyes.

"P-Please," he said, "get me the key from the table across the room. I need to be freed."

Seto eyed him curiously.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"I won't do anything bad, I promise. I'm very tired after being captured, I just want to rest."

"Do you give your oath as a swordsman?" _I can't believe I just said that! Ha, Kenshin's starting to rub off on me._

"I do."

"Very well, I guess I can trust you."

Seto walked across the room to where the keys were, when suddenly he heard the door open and slam shut.

"Well now, it appears I have witnessed an attempted rescue! Heh-heh-heh..."

"Who are you?" Seto cried.

"I am Kisara, champion wrestler and swordsman. And you are in no position to free anyone!"

"We'll see. I challenge you to battle!"

"You have sealed your fate, but so be it!"

Kisara drew out two long swords.

Seto drew out his single sword. He hoped he could do this. After all, it was two weapons to one, and Kisara was about twelve feet tall, twice as big as he was.

Seto swiped his sword quickly at Kisara, but he blocked it with the sword in his right and used the blunt edge of the left to trip Seto.

With two swords, Kisara would more than likely to block off his attacks! Seto had a greater disadvantage than he realized!

Caught off guard, Kisara managed to kick Seto in the side, sending him sprawling on the floor.

_How pathetic!_ Seto thought as he rolled away from the sword point buried neatly in the floor that had tried to pierce through his head.

As Kisara struggled to free his blade, Seto realized the was a vital opportunity to attack!

He charged forward, blade ready, when suddenly Kisara drew his blade at the last second and blocked.

"Gah!"

"Haha, sucks for you!"

There was no way to beat Kisara single handedly.... or was there? Seto remembered the new and improved blowtorch he received.

He took it out of his backpack with his left hand and fired at Kisara. The fire blast struck Kisara square across the face!

"Yes!" cheered Seto and the prisoner.

But it got even better. For Kisara dropped both his weapons. Seto picked them up quickly, threw them across the room, and swiped out and struck Kisara many times.

Kisara struggled to stand up, and when he did, Seto tossed the keys to the prisoner. Then Seto began a two-armed assault: Fire from his left hand, sword swipes from his right. Kisara only reached halfway across the room when he fell to his knees.

"Haha! Who does it suck for now?" Seto asked with a taunt, stopping his attacks and sheathing his sword and blowtorch.

Kisara weakly stood up for a moment, grabbed Seto by the front of his green kimono, and slammed him into the wall. Kisara collapsed and vanished into a puff of smoke, like Oracle. In his place was orange stone, carved in the shape of an 'O', and a statue of an archer.

Seto had also fallen, but he was unconscious, and the front of his kimono was somewhat shredded.

The prisoner freed himself then knelt by Seto, cradling the unconscious hero.

"Wake up! Are you alright?"

"Ow......." Seto moaned, and stirred, opening his eyes to see the prisoner.

"Hey! You! You're free!"

"Yeah, and I owe you one for saving my life, my friend."

"Oh! No problem. What's your name?"

"My name is Marth."

"Cool name, Marth! My name is Seto. Seto Kaiba. I prefer Kaiba though."

"Okay, Kaiba."

Marth reached out his right hand to shake hands. Being polite, Seto also put out his right hand to shake, but a great pain swept through his wrist like a gunshot.

"Oh, my wrist...." Seto moaned.

Marth held Seto's wrist in his hand and gently moved his fingers along the sides.

"I should say! Your wrist is broken! Probably from when Kisara slammed you into the wall."

"Oh man...."

"Where are you staying? I was kidnapped through time, and so I need a place to stay."

"You could come with me to the Kamiya Dojo, Marth."

"Okay! But first, we ought to bandage your wrist."

Marth tore off a fraction of his cape and removed some bandages from a sack he had. He wrapped them around Seto's injured wrist, then tied the cape around Seto's neck to act like a sling. Marth helped Seto stand up.

"Now lead the way, I think it's best we get back to the Kamiya Dojo."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they finally arrived, the first thing everyone wanted to know who the new arriver was. Seto introduced Marth to everyone. They all accepted him, especially Kenshin, always eager for a new friend, and Megumi, for obvious reasons(^_~).

"Kaiba, what happened to your wrist?"

"I broke it, Kaoru."

"Ouch!"

"That's not good. It takes two hands to use battou jittsu, so you won't be able to fight." 

"Kenshin's right. I can't fight now, and I'm running out of time to rescue Serenity! There just has to be a way to fight! I need to get her safely back before those Africans start dying!"

"Kaiba, I may have a solution. I am a skilled swordsman like Kenshin. I could teach you my Dancing Blade, Dolphin Slash, and Counter techniques. Those only need one hand."

"Great! But first I need to show the artifacts to Kenshin. Kenshin, I got another letter, and a sculpture of an archer. It looks like Sagittarius."

"Indeed it does. Your enemy must deal with astrology or mythology then, that they must. Perhaps they share the name of a mythological figure?"

"Perhaps so. Marth, I look forward to training with you."

The training went well for Seto, and he was once again able to spend the night away with his comrades at the Kamiya Dojo.

Seto slept peacefully in the room he shared with Kenshin and Marth, until Yahiko came in again, as he did before.

"KAIBA! KENSHIN AND MARTH WANNA SEE YA!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: Voila! Marth, welcome to Dragon Emblem!

Marth: ^_^

bijoukaiba: Review!!!! I already have my boss for next chappie, don't worry.=P


	5. Mokuba Enters The Fray!

bijoukaiba: Hey there! My computer is on the way to being fixed… I'm currently using one without Frontpage, so if my formatting seems off, it's because I had to use Word instead. Everything breaks, story of my life, blah, blah, _blah_. Anyway, on to Chapter 5! Finally!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Fire Emblem, or Rurouni Kenshin, mmkay?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 5: Mokuba Enters The Fray!

Speaking of breaks, when we last left Seto Kaiba, he rescued Marth and defeated Kisara, but now his arm is broken! Can he fight against this next enemy? We'll see!

Kenshin sighed one last time.

"Seto, are you absolutely SURE you'll be all right even with your arm broken."

"Kenshin, he'll be fine!" Marth said, "Trust me, I'd know, I taught him some of my moves. With my Dancing Blade and Counter strikes being dealt by your sword, there's no way you can lose, Seto!"

"Um… thanks, Marth…"

Megumi ran up to the three.

"Oh, and if you should get hurt worse, I'll spend my every waking moment with you until you feel better… same thing goes for Kenshin and Marth, too!"

"Um… thanks, Megumi… but anyway, Kenshin, where am I heading today?"

"Actually, Marth has this information for you."

"Well then, Marth, where am I heading?"

"You'll be heading west, for Mossyfern Jungle."

__

I had no idea there were so many weird places in Japan… oh well, this IS a fanFIC.

"Okay."

"There, you will find another artifact and letter. Another thing that might be of interest is that while I was being captured by Kisara, I heard about another prisoner. Whoever he, or she, is, I'm sure they'd be willing to help…"

"Okay, then rescue him, she, it, whatever, I will."

"Then may the winds of good fortune be at your back, your sails full, and your socks dry."

Seto left the Kamiya Dojo with his right arm in a sling, and began to head west to Mossyfern Jungle.

He had been walking for a few miles when he saw…

"Hiya!"

"Oh no, not this again…"

"I'll gladly give you a guide to poisonous plants around here, cause you never know what might be good or bad…"

"Fine! How much?"

"Um… twenty pieces of gold."

"Greedy little cretin… here! All over a stupid book…"

The shopkeeper handed him the book as Seto gave him some gold coins. Marth, he had found, was a prince, so there was obviously plenty of gold, but still, it wasn't nice to keep asking for more and more of the stuff!

Seto stared at the shopkeeper curiously.

"Say, how come you never take off that cloak draped around yourself… and why does your voice sound so familiar?…"

"I get that a lot. Besides, it's probably because you've met my cousins who work at Icymoon Cavern and Mellow Pine Forest."

"Um… right…"

Seto continued on when he suddenly ran into a woman crying.

"What's wrong?"

"My baby…" she sobbed, "he is so sick…"

"Look, I don't have the time for this…"

She continued weeping.

"Please, please, you must…"

"I will not help you, I'm sorry! I'm too busy to-"

Her husband came over carrying a little bundle wrapped in burlap sacks for warmth. These people looked to be peasants from their rugged clothes of brown and pale tan. He was dressed in some of Marth's clothes, a handsome red outfit.

"His fever is getting worse, my dear… his face is bright red from that infectious rash, but he shivers constantly… I don't know what to do…"

The woman turned back to Kaiba.

"Please, you MUST help my baby!"

"I can't! I am too busy to help! Now-"

The baby moaned and began to cry. The man slowly rocked the child back and forth, trying to soothe the poor child.

It seemed to trigger something deep down inside Seto. What if this was how the African children were feeling right at this moment, suffering?

He had to admit, he did pity the child.

"Okay, I'll go help the baby, what's he sick with?"

"A mysterious virus… people basically call it pepper fever… it makes you itchy and cold, but you have a high fever. You often have a bad cough with it, too. It can be fatal if left untreated… we've tried everything…"

"Pepper fever? Hold on for a second…"

Kaiba pulled out his communicator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

General Espa sat back, sipping on cherry pop. It seemed sort of… offensive to be doing that while the other IDA agents were out working, but he always said to himself, "Well, I AM the General…"

Suddenly, he heard a ringing sound coming from the communications wall. He scanned it quickly and realized there was a call from agent SK.

"Hello? SK?"

"Yeah, this is Kaiba…"

"You found Serenity already? I must say, I'm impress-"

"No."

"No?! Then shut up and keep searching!"

"I need to ask you something, though. What's the virus that the African children are sick with?"

"I dunno… everybody just calls it pepper fever… why?"  


"Just curious…"

"Whatever you say, SK."

"Seto out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaiba was now very interested in helping.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to help out after all…"

He flipped through the pages in his book until he came across a picture of a beautiful flower with blue petals of a daisy and had thorns.

"It says this plant will cure pepper fever…"

"Then that's exactly what my baby needs!"

"You know, it turns out I have to rescue a girl who's trying to save a tribe of Africans who are sick from pepper fever."

"Oh! Did she have auburn hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a pink kimono?"

"Well… maybe… why, was she gathering something like this flower?"

"Yes she was!"

"Then that's Serenity! Please, can you tell me where she is?"

"I'm sorry, that's all I ever saw of her. Now, go get some of that plant before it's too late!"

"Oh! Right!"

Seto quickly ran off deeper into the jungle.

There was a big rock wall, he noted, by the back of the woman's house, that was very suspicious. Maybe the artifacts and prisoner were back there! If he helped the woman, maybe she could help him get past that giant wall…

But he hadn't really headed for the rock wall, he was traveling from it, trying to scope out some of the flowers he had read about, the "Serendipity Blossom".

He suddenly noticed a tall metal gate poking up around some of those Serendipity Blossoms he needed, and he said:

"Well, that's very awkward for someone to protect the flowers… what's their problem? Aha!"

Seto had caught eye of a vent. Taking the blowtorch from his backpack, he fired into it, and like he had suspected, the gates went down.

He plucked some of the flowers from the ground quickly, after all, he didn't want somebody to see the famous Seto Kaiba picking flowers. 

He headed back to the village and prepared the antidote for the child by mashing some of the petals and adding some nectar from an Eagle Lily, which the parents had growing around their house.

He mixed this up in the wooden bowl they gave him, then he helped the child to swallow it down. The baby accepted it almost hungrily, as if it were sweet. After the medicine was gone, Seto ran his finger through the bowl, just for a lick. It tasted a bit like a tangy citrus syrup.

"Mmm! That stuff would be good on pancakes!"

"Oh my god! My child! Look!"

The infant's sweating had gone down, and his face wasn't nearly as red as before.

"It feels like his fever's gone down and he's stopped shivering!"

Seto gave a laugh to see the little one sleeping peacefully. If the medicine had done that… the African children would definitely be saved if he rescued Serenity and got that medicine in time!

The woman hugged Seto.

"Oh thank you! My baby will live to be a great hunter like his father because of you, child!"

"You're welcome, but please stop hugging me! You're hurting my arm!"

She stopped suddenly.

"Sorry bout that, child! Tell me: I don't have much to offer, but is there anyway I can repay you?"

"Well… I'm very curious about that rock wall in the back of your house… is there anyway to go by it?"

"Yes there is, honey, I'll open it for you!"

With that, she stepped outside and said a password:

"Eagle Lily!"

With that, the stone wall slid down into the earth, almost magically.

"Cool. How DO you people do that?"

"It's our secret. But anyways, be careful from here on out if you're gonna explore back there. Our village was once full of brave warriors, but now they're all gone after being killed by that enemy up ahead. Sonny, be careful now!"

"Yes, I'll be careful, miss! Later!"

Seto walked onward past all the lush greenery until he finally entered a dark cave. Remembering his lantern and flowers, he took them out of his pack and used the lantern to light his way. He found a door, and opened it.

He walked inside and noticed a cage across the room. 

"Hello?" Seto yelled. His voice echoed around the room.

"Who dares bother my sleep?!"

A man flew down to the cave floor. That's right, he flew. He possessed four butterfly wings of spectacular color.

"Just who are you anyway?"

"My name is Morpho!"  


"Morpho, huh? You must be the one who killed all the warriors in the village not too far from here!"

"Yes, I got a lovely photo album of them all!"

"Well Morpho, I'm not going to join that stupid photo collection of dead victims!"

"Oh, I believe you shall! It's one arm and two legs to two arms, two legs, and four wings! You will learn your lesson at the wrath of Morpho! Better known as…"

Morpho gave an evil grin.

"_The Butterfly Man_."

Kaiba stared at the guy and gave a scoff.

"The _Butterfly man?_"

"Many have feared Morpho the Butterfly Man!"

Kaiba's cold ego kicked in… and apparently, so did some stupidity as he mocked the flying warrior.

"The butterfly man? Ooh, I quiver in fear! What's next, _Flower Boy_?"

Morpho scowled and flapped his wings forward.

Kaiba laughed, but then suddenly began to choke.

"What's going on? I… can't… breathe…"

"Hahahahaha! I see you've had an encounter with my poisonous scales! Lovely, aren't they?"

"Grr… *cough* let's fight!"

"As you wish! You're my one-hundredth victim!"

"We'll see!"

Morpho flapped up into the air with his powerful wings, and dove at Kaiba.

He performed something similar to a flip and roll combo to dodge.

As he stood up, Morpho seized the opportunity to attack, and lunged at Kaiba from the left.

The force sent the CEO stumbling backwards. Morpho laughed again and attacked from the right, sending Kaiba flying against the wall. He grinned to hear Kaiba's cries of pain.

"Victim 1-0-0!"

__

There's no way to counter his attacks! Wait a sec… that's it! Counter!

As Morpho flew in ready for what he hoped would be a kill, Seto held his sword the way Marth taught him, then as Morpho came near, Seto whipped out his blade.

"_Mitsura!_" (((bijoukaiba: Weird word? I don't know what it is, but when I play SSBM, I hear Marth say something like this when he uses Counter.)))

Morpho spun down to the ground, taken aback by a blow.

"Like a moth drawn to a flame!" Seto cried, and with that, he fired his blowtorch and seared a hole through one of Morpho's wings. And boy, did he scream! Unfazed however, he climbed back into the air to attempt to attack Seto again.

As he lunged in, Seto used the Counter technique again.

"_Mitsura!_" 

Morpho fell again, and Seto tore out one of his wings with a shot from the blowtorch.

Morpho flapped up slowly to the ceiling of the cave, then swooped down at Seto, only to have another Counter technique awaiting.

"_Mitsura!_" 

Morpho fell again and Seto tore out his third of four wings with a shot from the blowtorch.

Surprisingly, Morpho had the strength to flap back up and resummon his strength one last time in an attempt to thwart Seto.

Seto unleashed one final Counter technique, and this one hit with explicit force, tearing off Morpho's last wing.

Morpho staggered to the ground and stood up. Seto charged forth at him with the Dancing Blade, delivering an upward thrust to Morpho's chin.

Morpho gave a cry and collapsed to the ground.

"It's not fair…" Morpho said, "not fair at all! I was so close to victim 100… and it all slipped away because of… because of…"

"Seto Kaiba." 

And with that, Kaiba kicked Morpho in the stomach, and with a cry of agony, Morpho vanished in a puff of rainbow smoke, leaving behind a golden goblet, a yellow "R", and a key.

Seto gathered up the clues with both hands… both hands? His arm had been cut free from his sling during the fighting, and he was moving it without any trouble or pain… he had been cured! Maybe that medicine had other healing properties as well as curing pepper fever…

He put these clues into his backpack, then held up the key, wondering about its use. Then he recalled the cage across the room. 

Running over, he unlocked the door, and the prisoner, with a head of messy black hair and dressed in a red T-shirt and blue jeans, hugged Seto.

"Seto! Big brother, you've saved me!"

"WHAT THE- MOKUBA?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Mokuba looked up with teary eyes.

"I had to help you, Seto!"

"You're too young for this mission!"

Lying, Mokuba said,

"But Seto! General Espa said you're acting foolish and you need someone to give you orders!"

"Yeah right! Kenshin and Marth already do that!"

"Oh, Kenshin! I forgot! But he said you might need another agent to help you out!"

"Another agent? Haha, very funny, but you're not an agent… are you?"

"Actually bro, I am. And by teasing me, you have violated a serious code of the IDA: Never insult a more experienced agent!"

"MORE EXPERIENCED AGENT?!"

"Yep! Because I'm helping you now, this is my third mission. This is only your first."

"AGH! I'M WORKING FOR MY LITTLE BROTHER!"  


"Better believe it! Now then, why don't we go back to your base?"

"You mean the Kamiya Dojo?"

"Is that where Kenshin and that guy Marth are?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, let's go!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oro? Seto! Why isn't your arm in the cast?"  


"Long story, but I'm better!"

"Hey, who's the kid?"

"Hey! I'm no kid!"

"This is my little brother, Mokuba. Mokuba, this is Kenshin, who you already know thanks to my communicator, Sanosuke, Kaoru, Megumi, Yahiko, and Marth."

"Hi!"

"Aw… he's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"Agh! Don't hug me so tight, Megumi!"

Ignoring the humorous riot between Megumi and Mokuba, Kenshin said:

"So Seto, I presume you have collected the artifacts?"  


"Yes! Here you go!"

He handed the "R" to Marth, and the golden goblet to Kenshin.

"Well, if this is made of gold… he must be very rich, that he must."

Marth added:

"Yes, and because it is a goblet, perhaps it means this person enjoys drinking… preferably wine…"

"So… I have six artifacts: three letters and three clues. I have eight left. And based on what we've learned, the enemy-"

"Is artistic, deals with mythology, and is a drunken rich pervert!"

"YAHIKO!"  


"Heh… pretty funny, though… this guy is one hell of an interesting person…"

Kenshin looked from Seto's now unrestrained right arm, to the sword on his belt.

"Seto…"

"Yeah Kenshin?"  


"Will you please see me in the Kamiya Dojo training room? I'm going to give you some training now that your arm is better."

"Okay, sure!"

Seto left the others pondering about his "training".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Seto, I presume you remembered hearing from Yahiko (of course) that I am a talented swordsman."

"Yeah…"

"Well, I am going to teach you some of the moves I know."

"You mean there's more than just battou jittsu?"  


"Oh yes, there most certainly is. I'm going to teach you the fighting style I specialize in."

"Which is…?"

Kenshin smiled.

"The Hitan Mitsurugi style."

"Sure! Whatever…"

"It is a powerful style of fighting; when I used the ultimate attack against my master, I almost killed him. Accidentally, of course."

"The ultimate attack? What's that?"

"It's not important, not at the moment. For starters, I will teach you the _Do-Ryu-Sen_."

"All right, let me see you perform it."

Kenshin set up a target in front of himself, then released his attack.

"_Hitan Mitsurugi Style… Do-Ryu-Sen!_"

A flash came from the blade, appearing in something like the form of a dragon, and it ripped through the target.

"Whoa. Impressive!"

"Now you try, Seto!"

"All right then!" 

Seto took a deep breath.

"_Hitan Mitsurugi Style… Do-Ryu-Sen!_"

Just like Kenshin, the form of a dragon seemed to come off of the sword and rip right through the target.

"Awesome!"

"Congratulations Seto, you have taken your first step into learning the Hitan Mitsurugi Style, that you have! Oro?"

Kenshin heard the growling of a stomach. He smiled and laughed.

"Haha, somebody seems to be hungry! I'll just have to prepare some fish for you and your brother then, okay?"

"I'M all right with that!"

"Very well then, I shall prepare a delicacy of smoked fish for you!"

"Yeah, fish!"

Mokuba and Seto enjoyed their meal, and Mokuba was given a room with Yahiko.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Seto had awaken early for preparation. He folded two ends of his pillow over his ears.

He was DESPERATE to finally be unable to hear the annoying cry from Yahiko of "Kenshin and Marth wanna see you!"

"Oof!" Seto said as he felt a kick to his stomach.

He rolled onto his back to see Yahiko AND Mokuba standing over him grinning.

"On three!" Yahiko said to Mokuba.

"One… two… three!"

The two were apparently starting to become good friend s as they screamed at Seto with his eyes bulging from annoyance.

"SETO!!!!!!! KENSHIN AND MARTH NEED TO SEE YOU NOW! GET UP, STUPID LAZY BUM!!!!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: (^_^) I couldn't help but throw in that added insult there!

Seto: *murmuring* Stupid author…

Yahiko: Nuh-uh! I like this story! (^o^)

Seto: (-_-;;;) Life sucks.

bijoukaiba: Please review! Oh, and I need a boss for the next Chapter! So please, people… your reviews are greatly appreciated!


	6. Rescue And Treachery

Dragon Emblem

bijoukaiba: Konnichiwa! Yeah, sorry I haven't updated in so long... anyway, Seto and Mokuba are heading for the mountains! We'll wait and see what awaits!

Disclaimer: Lemme just say this- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but all those bosses belong to me, but Kisara is partially owned by beriath. But Oracle and Morpho are my ideas! *evil grin*

Morpho: Foolish mortal! Begin!

bijoukaiba: Eek! The butterfly man! I gotta go!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6: Rescue and Treachory

Kenshin gave a smile.

"Well now, those flowers must work wonders, that they must. If your arm is healed, I see no reason why you can't go fighting. But still be careful none the less, Seto-sama."

Marth stepped up, also smiling. 

"Ah, yes. But anyway, before you go, you ought to change clothes." 

He pointed to Seto's BEWD pajamas, and Mokuba's red and green pajamas.

Seto and Mokuba blushed. Megumi giggled. The Kaiba brothers were so cute!

Marth willingly lent Seto his black outfit, and Yahiko gave Mokuba a black kimono.

"Sweet!" Mokuba commented to his friend, "I feel like a gangster!"

Yahiko nodded vigorously.

As Seto walked out into the sunlight outside the Kamiya Dojo, Megumi felt her heart stop. He was so adorable in Marth's black clothes!

She ran up to him.

"Kaiba, do me a big favor, pretty please? Try not to wreck Marth's clothes too badly, but at least get injured so I can take care of you, okay?"

Megumi fluttered her eyelashes. Sanosuke pulled her back.

"We're really rooting for you Kaiba. Good luck."

He shrugged and walked out of the Dojo. Remembering what Sanosuke said, Seto felt something weird in his heart. What was it? It was a feeling he never had felt before...

He pondered on it for hours as he and Mokuba walked to the mountains, stopping once behind a bush so Mokuba could "take care of business".

At the base of the mountain, Seto looked up at the pale snowy peak, like a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on a cone.

At the same time, without realization, a soldier was watching him with a long-range telescope. Not the kind for star gazing, but one that would give you good views of things a few miles away.

It was the same brown-haired swordsman, he had concluded, who had killed Oracle and his brother down in the forest! He turned to the guard sleeping in his chair by the entrance to a small pathway. 

"Wake up!" snarled the soldier, cruelly tipping the chair so his fellow comrade would fall on the ground. "Somebody's coming!"

"I'm awake, I just, um, shut my eyes! Who's coming anyway?" Said the other soldier, with a yawn.

"See that brown-haired swordsman?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, he's the one who killed Oracle, Kisara, and Morpho!"

"What?" he took hold of the scope. "You're right, Malice!"

"See, Julius? We got a real threat here!"

"Yeah, but he'll never beat our old buddy Arcticus, right?"

"Right, raised in the bitter cold of northern Greenland, he's proved he's stronger than Oracle and Morpho and Kisara! But even if that brown-haired swordsman, the one they call "Battousai Reborn" and "Kaiba the Killer", beats Arcticus, he could never beat the man behind those four warriors!" 

"Wow! You mean that Arcticus and Oracle and all of them have a leader who controls them? And he's WAY more powerful? Cool! What's his name?"

"He's so great and fantastic, I don't remember his name. I don't even know his name."

"Then how could you forget his name if you don't know it?"

"Shut up, Julius! We gotta go get back up. We'll wait at the entrance of Arcticus' lair, and then when he comes along..." Malice grinned evilly, a glint of bloodthirsty desire in his eyes.

"we'll slaughter him mercilessly!"

~~

Seto scratched the top of his head.

"Funny. I could've sworn I saw something..."

A gust of howling wind brought some snow crystals close to his face.

Mokuba stuck out his tongue.

"Yummy! I haven't eaten snow since that one winter at the orphanage!"

Seto brushed off a bit off snow that landed on his shoulder.

"Come on, Mokuba, let's go."

He walked off, with his brother behind. Seto had a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready if any soldiers dared come near. Seto heard a rustle somewhere, and gripped his sword. He looked around, but nobody was there.

Caught off guard, a cold blast smacked Seto in the back of the head. Whipping around lightning fast, he cried, 

"Show yourself!"

He looked down on the ground to see Mokuba sprawled on the ground in laughter.

Angry, Seto shook a nearby tree and a mountain of snow fell on his brother's head. Seto chortled.

"Got you there, Mokuba."

He wondered what would be going on if Kenshin and Marth were also up here in the snowy hills... wait a sec... why did he care what Kenshin and Marth were doing?

"Hey, Seto?"

He shook his head.

"Never mind."

At that moment, another snowball thwacked Seto in the side of the head.

"Oro!" he said as he tripped up.

_Oro? Did I really say THAT? Kenshin's really getting to me... and so is Marth... why is this happening? I keep on thinking about them... I've never felt this before... it's not love or hatred... but what?_

A snowball struck Mokuba as well.

"Hey, who's there anyway?"

A hooded purple figure stepped in front of them.

"Hiya! I thought those snowballs might catch your attention! Lovely, yes!"

Seto stood up and recognized the person immediately.

"Oh great... not you again!"

He grinned, keeping the cloak draped over his eyes.

"Hiya! I've got something great for you to buy!"

The Kaiba brothers watched as he produced a sparkling clear crystal, with tips in what could almost be described as a "creamy white" color.

"Ooh... pretty..." Mokuba commented, wanting to touch it.

The shopkeeper faced Mokuba.

"Ah! You like! I'm selling it for thirty pieces of gold."

Seto grumbled, handing over a small sack.

As he did this, he noticed something poking out from under the cover of the purple cloak.

"What's that?" He pointed near the shopkeeper's waist.

"What, that? Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all, nothing that concerns you!"

He seemed to be getting grouchier.

"And I really, truly believe I've heard your voice before, in that sort of nasal tone! Not just you or your 'shopkeeping brethren', I've heard it elsewhere!"

"I've never seen you before, now beat it!"

Seto peered at him suspiciously, then he and Mokuba ran off.

The shopkeeper gave an agitated sigh. They finally left.

_Curse that idiot Seto Kaiba! He's starting to catch on to my real identity! As long as I keep playing them for fools as that shopkeeper, I can pull a little profit and help keep the 'Master'_ _alerted of Kaiba's doings!_

He paused, the "object" rubbing against his skin in a jagged way.

Wincing, he removed the Millennium Rod from under his cloak.

~~ 

A long rocky path lay ahead of them. Seto looked up at the rugged terrain. He looked at the black boots Marth lent him. They would be wrecked if he tried to climb up there... and Mokuba was wearing a pair of sandals much like Yahiko's... there was no way his little brother could climb up there either! Worse off, Seto noticed, there seemed to be no other way of climbing up the mountain.

Grumbling, Seto gave a sigh and looked around.

"Got any ideas, Mokuba?" No answer. "Mokuba?" Seto twirled around. His brother was nowhere in sight.

"Mokuba!"

Seto shook his head, scowling. Now he had to find his brother in a blizzard beginning to form.

"Greaaaaat. This is just grand. I'd love to hiking in this damn cold blizzard looking for my lost brother!"

Kicking away a bit of snow, Seto stormed off. Mokuba had the crystal, the blowtorch, all the items but Seto's sword... he needed to find his brother... before he got lost...

~~~

An hour passed. Seto's face was red and stinging from gusts of cold wind and snow whipping across his face in the cold.

"Mokuba!" he cried, his voice growing raspy. No answer. A breeze blew fresh powder into Seto's eyes. Wiping angrily, he shouted again. 

"Mokuba!!" still no reply. He continued walking, with the snow still stinging his eyes.

"Mokubaaaa!!!" he tripped over into the snow on a tree root. He lay there, thinking about his brother, not minding the snow gathering on his back or the numbness he felt from the cold. His brother was lost, maybe even dying somewhere, and here he was. Seto Kaiba, supposedly the "greatest big brother ever". How great of a big brother was he, with Mokuba lost?

_What would Marth or Kenshin have done in a time like this... ACK! I can't stop thinking about them... what's... wrong with... me..._

Seto's thoughts were numbed out, like his body, covered in a thin film of snow. 

"M-Moku-u-b-b-a..." was all he said, before he passed out.

~~

Ten minutes later.

Mokuba was traveling with his newfound friend and companion. He was big enough to carry the sack of items, and Mokuba was walking in front of him slowly.

"Setoooo!" he cried out. "Big brother, where are you?"

"Seto Kaiba!" cried the companion in his deep bass-toned voice.

Mokuba looked around.

"Oh man... where do you think he is?"

"I don't know, he is YOUR, um, brother, thing."

"Hmm... whoa!" Mokuba suddenly tripped over. Helping him up, his companion asked,

"Mokuba, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Mokuba began to move snow off of what he tripped over. A black cape, black pants, brown hair, and black boots were revealed.

"Oh man... Seto!"

"That's your brother?"

Cradling his older sibling's head in his arms, Mokuba began bawling.

"Why, Seto, WHY?!"

The companion said,

"He may not be dead, young Mokuba."

Mokuba stopped to think. He placed his fingers on the side of Seto's neck.

"Oh, thank God! He's got a faint pulse! If we can warm him up, my big brother will be just fine."

Grabbing the backpack from the companion, he grabbed the blowtorch. Mokuba also yanked Seto's sword out of its scabbard. Slicing off a few branches from the tree, he piled them up into a small tepee shape. Removing a small bottle of fuel from an emergency kit in the pack, he spread a trickle of it over the firewood. Then Mokuba fired the blowtorch and soon a warm blaze was lit.

"Hey, um, what's your name?"

"I never told you! Everybody calls me Woolly."

"Okay. Sit near my brother, Woolly. Help keep him warm with your coat."

"Got it."

~~~Dream~~~

Seto was lost. Not just really lost, damn lost. He was all alone in the darkness. He had always been alone, it seemed like. And here he was again, alone. Only this time, it hurt. It almost hurt enough to make Seto cry. Where was he? Where could everyone be? There was no sign of anyone, not Kenshin or Marth, not Yugi or Mai. Not even Mokuba. He was alone. Until something hurt his eyes, but it hurt in a good way.

Light began to seep in through a crack in what appeared to be the 'sky' of the dark universe he was in.

Two voices began to call him.

"Seto..."

"Seto, come here..."

It was Kenshin and Marth. Somehow, they were floating there, like ghosts. Seto stared at them, finally able to speak.

"Kenshin! Marth! Where am I?"

Marth spoke.

"A place in your mind you have never been. We have been here in the dark, and now you see..."

He paused, smiling at the light shining upon him. Kenshin finished speaking for Marth.

"And now you see the light. The truth. And we are getting stronger, our existence grows in this shadowy realm, as more and more light seeps in."

Seto spoke now.

"I want you guys to stay here, wherever it is in my mind. But what can I do to make you stay? And where is this place anyway?"

Kenshin replied.

"The voices inside you have lead your soul astray. This realm will be known to you by the time we actually tell you."

"But what do I do to leave here and return to real life? And what do I do to help you?"

The cold wind from the mountains returned, blowing by, whispering in Seto's hair. Marth and Kenshin spoke, in a mysterious whisper-like tone.

"_Reach for the light..._"

Seto reached out a hand for the light above. 

"Come out of the darkness, and you will know who you are, and why you are here."

He walked slowly towards the light. Gradually, the radiation grew greater and greater. He began to run.

"I will, Kenshin, I will, Marth! I will be strong!" He ran into the crevice from which the light penetrated.

~~~~~

Seto opened his eyes. He was sitting by a small fire. But what alerted him suddenly was the big mass he was leaning against. Turning around, Seto stumbled away in shock.

A mammoth. A real, woolly, mammoth. Seto wanted to yell or even scream, but suddenly Mokuba tripped over and fell into his lap.

"Seto! You're alive! And awake! Thank goodness!"

"Heh, the winds may blow cold, but I'll always do whatever I can to be here for you, Mokuba. We're brothers, and brothers gotta stick together. Now then, do you know what or who that is?"

"A mammoth. He's my friend! His name is Woolly. He even said so."

"Huh? SAID so?"

"Seto, remember the crystal, in the item sack, and I took it with me?"

"Yeah..."

"The crystal really belongs to Woolly. It lets him speak! He doesn't have too great a memory or use of language..."

Seto turned to look as the mammoth with brownish-red fur interrupted.

"Ha-ha, very funny Mokuba."

"Anyway, he's adapted to climb up the mountainside, so he'll gladly give us a ride to the top in exchange for the crystal!"

"Well... all right... I don't see any harm in it..."

"Great! Hey, Woolly?"

The mammoth stood up. 

"Let me guess, you want to ride on me to the top."

"Please?"

"Um... okay. I can obviously carry both of you. The question is," he said with a chuckle. "can you climb on my back?"

In about two seconds, Seto was on the mammoth's back.

"Yeah, I think so. Here, Mokuba, grab my hand. Be careful not to kick Woolly."

Being assisted by his older brother and Woolly's trunk, Mokuba sat on the mammoth's back, in front of Seto.

As Woolly began to trudge up the hill, Seto engaged in conversation.

"So anyway, you're a woolly mammoth?"

"Actually, no, I'm known as a Duel Monster, I think it's called. Yes, a Duel Monster. Arctic Mammoth to be exact."

Seto stared forward, straight ahead, eyes wide in shock. 

"A Duel Monster?"

"Yes, I was created here, by a man... I don't know him too well, though..."

"Duel Monsters are from the future, so how can you be here in the past... unless..."

Mokuba spoke up.

"Unless, Seto, we've fought this enemy before in the past, err, future."

"Yeah..."

Woolly commented,

"If it's any help to you, I heard he works with a certain type of magic. What was it called? I know the definition, but not the word... it's the dark thing by you when you stand in the light..."

"Shadow?" Mokuba asked

"Yes, a shadow! Thank you! Shadow magic, it's called."

Mokuba looked at Seto uneasily.

"Then maybe we have fought someone like that before!"

"Like maybe we're up against Pegasus... or Marik... or Yami Bakura... or Yugi..." Seto said, a growl rising in his throat.

"Scratch Yugi, he works for the IDA. It's gotta be one of the other three."

"Probably Yami Bakura."

"Yeah. I heard from Yugi that Pegasus is supposedly dead."

"But yet, how do the clues fit...?"

Both Kaiba brothers sat pondering for a few minutes, when suddenly Woolly alerted them.

"Excuse me, we have arrived at the top. Here's a small cavern for you to explore. Maybe you'll find what you're looking for. Beware of Arcticus! Good luck! Farewell!"

Climbing off Woolly's back, they set off into the cavern.

"Ugh!" Mokuba commented. "It's too dark in here!"

"Relax, I can fix that."

Seto lit the flowers in his lantern.

"See? Now then, let's go."

They walked along until they saw a red emblem over a doorway. The blowtorch was needed now!

"Hey Moky, hand me the blowtorch. Mokuba?"

Suddenly, a blast from the blowtorch ignited the red mark above.

"No sweat, Seto. I shot it."

"Mokuba, you shouldn't play with weapons like that, that you-" Seto shook his head before he said anything more.

"Aww... that's no fun, though..."

"You're too young, you could hurt yourself. Now put it back where it was."

With a sigh, Mokuba put the blowtorch into the backpack. Sometimes life was so unfair!

Walking through the doorway, they stood in a large cavern area. In the back of the room, there appeared to be a smaller cavern. Waling out into the middle of the floor, Mokuba gave a holler.

"Hellooooo!!!"

In the shadows, Seto saw somebody turn around and look at them. Apparently, they had a prisoner and were beating him up. Julius and Malice ran over.

"Ah, you must be Battousai Reborn! I never thought that I would be the one to slay you! My name is Malice, and this is Julius."

"Heh-heh..."

Seto stared at them confused.

"YOU are going to slay ME. If I were you, I wouldn't fight me. I'm rather powerful, that I am."

_Gah! Not again!_

Malice sneered.

"Grr... you may talk like Battousai the man-slayer, but I'll bet you can't fight like him!"

Drawing out a blade, he lunged at Seto. He thrust it twice toward his head. Seto dodged with surprising speed. Leaping back a bit, Kaiba drew his blade and cried, 

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style Do-Ryu-Sen!"

Whipping his sword forth, the ground shattered as the attack struck Malice, sending him flying. Seto quickly used the Dolphin Slash technique and he lay felled from the blow. Julius nervously looked over his fighting friend. Dead!

"You'll pay for what you did to Malice!"

"I had to defend myself. He attacked me, you see, not the other way around, if you please."

Julius ran towards Seto with a small dagger. Seto held his blade ready.

"_Mitsura!_" BAM! Counter succeeded, and Julius flew back. The enemy slammed his head against the rocky wall and lay there, unmoving.

Seto went over and untied the prisoner. He looked... oddly enough, like a tribal being. Like a Yanomamo. 

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Hey! Stay away, stinking swordsboy, or me smash you good!"

"That's not nice! Seto just saved you!"

The tribal being looked away.

"Puh. Me trust nobody but others of Nikotayo tribe!"

"Nikotayo tribe? Who are they?"

"We live in big, lush forest, filled with lotsa big trees. Is called rainforest, me thinks. We not know what happen when suddenly big man with shadow powers say, 'send you all to Meiji Era', that be here. Me and tribe came here. Built small village nearby. Hope maybe return back to rainforest, leave Meiji."

"But why did they attack you?"

"Stupid soldiers Julius and Malice, they say me take their pretty artifacts, but they big, stupid, stinking liars!"

He held out a green "T" and a comic strip.

"Whoa!" Seto exclaimed. "The fourth letter and clue!"

A loud voice was heard.

"Neither of you may take those! I will slay whoever took them from me, Arcticus!"

Seto thought back.

_I heard that name before... but where?_

A figure dressed in a gray parka entered the room with a zan-bato. 

The prisoner threw the artifacts at Seto. Arcticus took a step towards him.

Seto threw them back at the Nikotayo villager. Arcticus took a step towards the villager.

Throwing the artifacts back into Seto's arms, the villager cried,

"You want artifacts, you take them! Me am leaving this place. Adios!" Cowardly, he ran off into the room in the back of the cavern, and stepped onto a pad illuminated by light. He vanished from clear view, as if he had teleported away.

Seto clenched his fist.

"That coward!"

"Well, it appears you're going to have to face me in a fight for those artifacts."

"Listen Arcticus, if that is your name, I didn't take your artifacts, that other guy did, so kill him, not me!"

"I care not. I need to practice with my zan-bato."

"Shiiiiit."

Mokuba was very curious. 

_A zan-bato? I remember Sanosuke told me about these swords... they're very big, and hardly anybody can master using them..._

Taking a swing at Seto, the blade thrummed heavily with an evil sound. Seto leapt up and flipped over the enemy.

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

The attack tore a chunk out of the zan-bato, and only a chunk. Well, this was working out swell!

Taking the blunt face of the massive blade, Arcticus struck Seto powerfully across the face.

Stars flickered everywhere and his head throbbed as Seto fell to the ground, out cold.

"No! Seto! Get up! Please, big brother!"

"Shut up, kid, you can't do anything to save him now!"

Mokuba fired a blast from the blowtorch, but Arcticus stepped nimbly aside. He now stood by Mokuba.

"No..."

With a smash from his gloved hand, Mokuba also was sent sprawling out onto the floor, out cold.

Arcticus laughed.

"Hahaha! I've won! Hahahahaha!"

Turning to the older Kaiba lying on the floor, he said,

"You were the most stubborn, digging a chunk out of my prized zan-bato. For that, I shall slaughter you first!"

~~~~

Seto walked down the hallway of KaibaCorp. Oddly, the doors now resembled wooden screens from the common dojos of ancient Japan. He entered his presidential office, and who should he see, but Kenshin and Marth! Smiling, he ran towards them. However, they stepped aside, stone-faced and serious.

"What's wrong, guys? It's me, Seto."

Marth said,

"The enemy seeks to attack you. You must fight."

"How can I fight? I'm here in KaibaCorp?"

"No you're not. You're in a very dire situation."

"But how? All I have is a sword, and he blocks my attacks!"

Kenshin said,

"Somewhere in you, there's a power with no name, and this power shall let you overthrow Arcticus. It is in your courage, pride, and determination."

He smiled.

"Now then, be stronger than anything you know. Be proud and stop him. Marth and I are cheering you on, my friend."

Suddenly seeing himself dressed in Marth's black outfit, Seto looked up. The view of Marth and Kenshin were gone, and darkness shown in. A giant sword as big as the sky, began to fly towards him.

"Come out of the darkness... and reach for the light..."

~~~~

Seto's eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the way as the zan-bato pierced the ground where he lay.

"Curses!"

"I have to say, you almost succeeded there. However, your zan-bato only gives you offensive and defensive strength, leaving you weak on speed. It is in your lack of agility that will allow me to defeat you."

For once, Arcticus felt fear. He saw why his two henchmen, Julius and Malice had been afraid of this teen-aged, brown-haired swordsman who stood before him. He could see why there had been people who had called this swordsman "Battousai Reborn". There was a glint of the battousai's spirit in the eyes of his opponent. Swallowing up his trepidation, Arcticus spoke.

"We'll see about that!" He swung his sword at Seto, and suddenly the swordsman was no longer there. He had leapt up in mid-attack, and landed behind Arcticus. 

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

Arcticus flew from the impact, and shakily stood up. But it was too late.

"Dancing Blade!"

Performing aerial maneuvers, Seto sliced into Arcticus's neck. With a cry, the parka-clad warrior fell to the ground. At last, he was defeated.

Seto fell to his knees, breathing deeply. That had to have been his most difficult fight as of so far. And yet, the battles would probably continue to come, and they would keep getting harder and harder. And when he fought against his final enemy...

That would take real skill, for a fighter like that must be strong as hell.

A small hand suddenly placed itself upon Seto's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I'm okay. Come on, Mokuba. Let's see if whatever that Nikotayo guy stepped on can get us out of here."

Walking into the smaller cavern, Seto and Mokuba stepped onto the platform which radiated a bright light.

"Here we go!" Mokuba cried, shutting his eyes, as he seemed to feel himself being lifted from the floor. When he reopened them, they were outside, at the base of the mountain from what appeared to be east of where they had started. Now they must have been northeast from the Kamiya, so therefore they had to walk southwest to get home. It was nighttime, and Seto could easily understand why he and Mokuba felt so tired. Kenshin and Marth were probably asleep.

As they walked on, they passed through a small forest. And by a little tree sat a boy picking dandelions.

_Aww..._ Seto thought to himself. _AGH! I'm getting soft!_

The boy turned around to see Seto and Mokuba standing nearby. Giggling, he held up a dandelion at Seto. His icy heart was thawing away even more. Kneeling down beside the little guy, Seto gently took the dandelion and said,

"For me? Aww! Hey there, little fella!"

Mokuba looked around at the trees.

"Hmm... I don't like this Seto..."

Rustling from the leaves above instantly made Mokuba look up. He saw a muscular man standing there.

"Seto! Look out, it's a trap!" Looking up, Seto saw the muscular man leap upon him before everything went black.

Fearfully, Mokuba ran off as far away as possible, yet hiding behind a tree. Using his binoculars, he watched the tribesmen standing all about his big brother. A tall man, with feathers in his black hair, approached the warriors.

"Good work! We caught him!"

"Yeah! But what do we do now, Chief Tanno? What about little one?"

Mokuba snuck closer to hear what this 'Chief Tanno' guy had to say.

"Little one not important. As for big one, here's what we do. Tie him to tall wood pole, execution him with spears! Little one will never see big one again!"

~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: Seto's been kidnapped! Oh no! Better keep reading and reviewing to see what happens next!


	7. Summoning The Flarenix and Seto's In Lov...

bijoukaiba: Seto has been kidnapped *o*!

Kenshin: We must save him!

Vash: Yeah!

Miroku: ?_? But how?

bijoukaiba: Easy! Get Mokuba to shoot people with a big blowtorch, baby!

Naraku: *dancing about uneasily* Aww! I wanna shoot people with a big blowtorch!

Miroku: DIE! *shoves staff down his throat*

Naraku: Gak. *X__x*

bijoukaiba: .......................... here's Chapter 7....................................... *weirded out O_O*

Vash and Kenshin: *sweatmarks*

Disclaimer:

Johnson: Legally speaking, bijoukaiba doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Rurouni Kenshin, or Fire Emblem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 7: Summoning The Flarenix and Seto's In Love!

It was morning. Mokuba had found the discarded backpack of his brother, and, remembering what the Nikotayos had said, had begun to strategize. With all those spears, and with only some chain mail to defend him, Mokuba shuddered at the thought of what could befall his brother. Looking through the backpack, Mokuba scavenged for something he could use to stop the Nikotayo people. The first thing he grabbed?

The blowtorch.

~~~~

Kenshin looked up uneasily at the sunrise. Marth stood beside him. Looking at each other, they gave a small nod, then continued gazing at the sky. Kaoru and Sanosuke watched them. She spoke to her tall friend.

"Seto, you think?"

"Definitely. They didn't eat anything for dinner or breakfast, so they gotta be worried."

"I'm worried too. Seto didn't come back overnight. Do you suppose everything's all right?"

"Everything will be all right Kaoru. At least, I think everything will be fine... I sure hope so."

~~~~

Everything was blurry as Seto began to open his eyes. He heard two voices that were counseling over him.

"Yes! Dat's him! He steal our pretty paper called 'comic strip' and green 'T'!"

"Oh really?"

Seto's vision cleared. Two men stood before him. One was the prisoner he had freed. The other one was... well, looked similar.

He was only a foot shorter than Seto, and he wore some sort of clothing that could almost be described as resembling shorts, made of what appeared to be deer fur, from its small white spots on the pale tan hue of the fabric. He wore a leather belt around his waist, and his chest was bare with the exception of tribal paintings of red, green, black, and blue dipping up and down in intricate patterns all the way up to his neck. There, he wore a necklace made of small bones, shark teeth, and black glass beads. On his face, he had a chin piercing of bone, and two thin red lines and a thick blue line painted under each eye. His forehead had two green dots painted on inside two black lines. He wore a headdress made of what appeared to be shark teeth, two peacock feathers, and various feathers from different birds. He wore his black hair in a ponytail and his complexion was like that of rich reddish-brown natural clay.

Shaking his head, Seto saw his hands chained up to two 'arms' extending off of the tall wooden post he was tied to. Tied to? He was hanging there, like a target. He decided to try speaking to the clannish beings.

"Excuse me!"

Apparently, it worked. The two tribesmen turned to look at Seto.

"What you want, stinking swordsboy?"

"Where am I? Untie me right now!"

The tribesmen spoke to him.

"No! You steal our pretty relics!"

"Yeah, you stinking pig!"

Seto looked at the prisoner with a dirty glare.

"Hey buddy, you gave me those artifacts! I didn't steal them!"

"We no care! We kill you!"

"I am Chief Tanno, and we no like thieves."

"But I didn't-"

"He stoled the treasures! He stoled them!" screamed the affiliate of the tribe.

"No, YOU 'stoled' them! YOU gave them to ME to save YOUR sorry ass!"

"Dat's enough!" Chief Tanno stood panting after finally breaking in. "Let me show you what we do to thieves."

Warriors from the Nikotayo tribe began to climb up onto the small raised area of land that Seto's wooden executing spot was. They all had spears with sharp ends made of sharpened stone. They threw jeers at him in their native tongue.

Well, this was it. It was finally over. Seto had come so far, and now he was never going to live to see another day again. 

_I'm going to miss Mokuba. And Kenshin and Marth. I'll never understand how I felt for them. And it's just really bad too... without me, they can't rescue Serenity... and now that medicine will never get through... and all those children will die because of me._

He hung his head, awaiting the final chapter. A muscular person went up to him. Vigorius is what Chief Tanno called him. 

"Vigorius! Stab him good!"

Seto stared forward. He decided to grit his teeth and bear it. He hoped that maybe somehow, someone would view him as taking death bravely.

Suddenly, a blast of fire struck him in the back. Howling in pain, Vigorius leapt off the small land mass and into the surrounding lagoon. Seto looked to see where the fire came from. In the nearby tree! And pushing away the brush, Mokuba poked his head out.

"Seto!"

"Mokuba!" His brother waved at him. Seto yelled,

"Thank God you're alive!"

"Likewise! Don't worry Seto! I'll try my best to keep them from hurting you!"

Seto gulped. He trusted his brother... but still... he hoped he really could trust him. There were still sixteen warriors standing. 

Warrior after warrior each took turns trying to gouge Seto, but yet almost all fell without leaving a scratch on him. Only three were able to actually stab him, but then they fell from a fireball in the back or shoulder or head. Mokuba's aim had been too keen.

As fireballs flew after screaming warriors in the lagoon, Chief Tanno ran up to the tied up Seto.

"Okay, okay! You win! I'll untie you! Just make the Mokuba child stop firing! EEYAH!" He barely dodged a hurtling orb of flames. Seto obliged, and soon he was finally standing on the ground. He was bleeding minorly, but it was enough to feel like hell. Seto didn't care; it was good to be at least alive. 

"You free." Chief Tanno said, as he ran off towards a large thatched hut of wood and reeds, located on a larger body of land near the edge of the lagoon. "But we still no trust you, stinking swordsboy!"

Mokuba rushed out of the tree and Seto climbed down the tall landform to his brother.

"SETO!"

"MOKUBA!!"

They embraced each other tightly.

Mokuba began crying.

"I was so scared while I was up there. When I saw you take those three hits, I thought at first you would die after each thrust! I kept worrying that I would bring about my brother's death... but you're alive!"

He sobbed against his older brother's shoulder. Rubbing the back of his younger brother, Seto soothed Mokuba.

"Shh... there's no turning back when your destiny calls... you did the right thing, you stood brave and strong... and you saved me."

Mokuba slowly began to stop crying as the brothers held onto each other for a little bit longer. Gently pulling his sibling away to face him, Seto spoke with a smile, something he rarely did.

"Back there in the mountains... when we fought Arcticus... you asked if you could use my blowtorch."

"Yeah..."

"Well, because you have proved able to wield it, I have decided that you may keep the blowtorch, Mokuba. Just one condition. When I need you to shoot something, you shoot it. Okay? That's the only detail in the matter."

"I'd love to wield it! Yeah!"

He began to dance in a circle, oddly hugging the blowtorch against himself. 

"Yay! I get to shoot people! ON COMMAND!"

Using the shoulder strap attached, Mokuba flung the blowtorch over his shoulder. It fit him perfectly. No wonder Seto had thought it was small!

Seto sat down. 

"Well, I guess it's time for us to head back to the Kamiya Dojo. I can't wait to see Marth and-"

"No."

"But why not, Mokuba?"

"I dunno, this place just seems suspicious. Maybe Chief Tanno-" Mokuba gave a wink. "-Knows a little bit more about this place than we do."

"Oh... I see..."

They walked over to the hut. On the way, they passed a small tepee. Curious, they decided to stop there. A kindly old medicine-woman, like Megumi, lived inside, and she gladly treated Seto's minor wounds and Mokuba's minor finger burns.

After getting bandaged up and sipping tea with her, they went to go see the Chief. He was leaning against a chair made of wood.

"Oh crud, not you again! We know you didn't steal our artifacts, so go away!"

Two warriors with singe marks held up spears in Seto's face. Pushing their spears aside fearlessly, he marched up to the Chief.

"We wanna know if there is anything nearby like the green letter and comic strip."

"Oh, so you lookin' for artifacts, eh?"

Mokuba groaned.

"Duh! Stupid question! Of course we are!"

"We keep secret, you see. Remember executioning spot? There secret underground chamber there. Maybe you get spirit from underground, you give it to Simetra, spiritual leader and artist of Nikotayo. Only then can you see Ollopa, musical person. But you can't see them yet. You must pass the Nikotayo test, to see how brave and strong you are."

He began laughing, then Vigorius (who appeared to be his right hand man) began to laugh too, and soon the guards of Chief Tanno's hut were laughing too. Seto looked around at them confused.

"Oro? Well, I-"

Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"Seto, don't be stupid! You gotta do it now! They're laughing at you."

Chief Tanno cleared his throat.

"Yeah... but before you make choice, listen to what Vigorius say to you."

"Wait- first off, I wanna know- what does all this have to do with the artifacts?"

"Oh, I see, swordsboy curious." Chief Tanno chuckled. "You need to be Nikotayo member in order to go into underground chamber. If you pass Nikotayo test, you become an HONORARY member of the tribe, and they is allowed to go into underground too. When you get there, the spirit will give you a test too. If you pass, it will go with you to see Simetra, to be released. Then you go see Ollopa, he is musical master. You see, we need two spirits before he comes into play. You will be getting the second spirit."

"But who picked up the first spirit?" Seto asked, randomly eyeing some Serendipity Blossoms and Eagle Lilies growing nearby.

"That don't matter. Now then, since you will have the second of two spirits, we will gather around a big fire, and then the spirit giver who delivers the second spirit, dat's you, must play a melody on a flute. Then Simetra sprinkles some magic herbs into the fire, and if the ritual goes successfully, we will see the Flarenix!"

"The WHAT?!"

"The Flarenix! It is the god we worship as the Nikotayos. The Flarenix, the phoenix of the spiritual flames!"

"Oh... cool."

"Yeah, very cool! And so, you summon Flarenix, it will give you artifacts. Easy?"

"No. It sounds complicated... but I guess I'll do it..."

Chief Tanno nodded.

"Ah, you are very brave warrior indeed. There is something special about you, um-"

"Seto. Seto Kaiba."

"There is something special about you, Seto Kaiba. Me wish you luck, so hopefully you won't die."

Seto smiled nervously as the Chief ran off. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"WAIT!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'YOU HOPEFULLY WON'T DIE'??!!"

"I think it means you're in way over your head."

Mokuba looked grim.

"Seto, I think you're in serious trouble............"

~~~~~~

There was a small grassy field in the west of the small village. Chief Tanno pointed at two thick wooden boards that appeared to be like a turntable. If it were a compass, one board would be on the 'east', one was parallel, to the 'west', and in the 'south' there was a deep pit.

Vigorius punched a Nikotayo over and stood near Seto, his eyes gleaming in smug pride. Looking up, Seto realized how tall this warrior was. Imagine the fright of fighting him!

Vigorius looked back at Chief Tanno, who nodded, and Vigorius nodded back.

Vigorius spoke in a deep voice, and the field seemed to tremble below him.

"This is the Test Of Strength! This is what you must do- you are to push on this wooden board with all your strength. A warrior will also push on the other board, trying to shove you in. The loser is the one who falls into the pit."

Mokuba walked over and sat down by Chief Tanno. Odd as it was, the leader of the Nikotayos seemed to have a liking for Seto's little brother.

"Go Seto! You can win!"

Seto looked at his brother and nodded. He approached the wooden board. It came only a few inches off the ground to allow easier movement, and it stood about a foot taller than Seto. As Seto placed the palms of his hands against the wood, he looked back at Vigorius.

"Say, who am I fighting anyway?"

Vigorius chuckled and grinned evilly, cracking his knuckles.

"Me."

"Oro! That's not good!"

Chief Tanno raised his hand.

"Begin!"

Seto began pushing against the wooden board, just like Vigorius. He decided to try turning around and walking backwards while pushing on it. It merely seemed to make the pit come closer. Seto turned around and began shoving like Vigorius. Suddenly, he seemed to imagine Kenshin and Marth at his left, helping him push. With that thought, Seto closed his eyes and pushed as hard as possible. Slowly but surely he began to edge forward, at the same time pushing Vigorius closer to the pit.

Angrily seeing he was only a few footsteps away, Vigorius grumbled.

"No more nice stuff!"

Exerting all his strength, he began to edge towards the side of the wood, where he could grab the edges with both hands. Pulling roughly, the wood fell away from Seto. As he went to go grab it, Vigorius suddenly slammed all his weight against the wood and-

SMACK

The wooden board hit Seto roughly in the face. His nose was beginning to drip blood, and stars were everywhere. 

Mokuba booed.

"Hey! THAT'S CHEATING!"

Chief Tanno sat him down.

"No, it's not. There's no rule as to what you do against your opponent, just as long as you don't let go of the wood."

Mokuba looked back at the turntable.

"Seto..."

Seto was too dizzy to fully concentrate, and his steps went wobbly as he continued trying to think straight and shove. The mental stress was too much, and Seto collapsed, panting. Vigorius began to push Seto towards the pit, Kaiba's body edging slowly nearer.

~~

Voices of Kenshin and Marth shook and rattled in his head.

"Seto!"

"Get up, Seto!"

"You need to fight!"

"You must get up Seto, that you must!"

"Go now! Get up!"

"FIGHT!!"

"You must be stronger to go on!"

_Be stronger..._

~~

As Seto neared the pit, he opened his eyes. Leaping up, he grabbed the board and shoved heavily. Vigorius was shocked at the resurgence of Seto's strength. He was virtually speeding towards the pit. 

Seto's face grew red as he shoved. He was in the clear! Blood from his nose had now leaked onto his neck, but he didn't pause to wipe it away. For Seto, this had felt like it had become a battle of life or death.

Gritting his teeth, Seto shoved the board with all his might.

_For Kenshin... and for Marth..._

Ollopa screamed. Simetra gasped. Mokuba cheered. 

Vigorius fell into the pit!

Seto fell onto his stomach, breathing heavily. It was because he had thought of them that he had won. But why? The more he thought of them, the stronger he felt. Physically stronger... and stronger in his heart too.

Vigorius slowly climbed out of the pit.

He grabbed a spear from a nearby warrior and knelt onto the ground.

"What's he doing?" Mokuba asked.

Chief Tanno wasn't sure.

"Because I have lost this fight, I have shamed myself and my family, and my tribe. I do not deserve to live in such shame!"

Just as he was about to run himself through with the spear, Seto slashed it away with his sword. Gazing at the split spear on the ground, Vigorius looked up at Seto.

"But... why?"

Seto did not realize it, but he was repeating the words of his sensei. Mokuba even blinked twice when he stared at his brother. For a split second he resembled Kenshin when he spoke.

"It was just one loss. You have won many more fights and made yourself proud. Everyone loses sometimes, but you can't sacrifice yourself for a loss!"

Vigorius stared, listening to Seto.

_Those are the wisest words I've ever heard..._

"Besides that, suicide is for cowards. You can die at anytime... but yet living, and facing down whatever is thrown at you each day, such as loss and guilt, that takes real courage. A long time ago, I lost a similar fight, but now it doesn't bother me enough to commit suicide, although I've made many more wrongs. I am living too, that I am."

Vigorius slowly stood up and beckoned Chief Tanno over (who, FYI, was also speechless after hearing Seto's oration). The other Nikotayos, including Ollopa and Simetra were curious as to what was happening.

Chief Tanno smiled at Seto and, speaking loud enough so everyone could hear, said,

"Congratulations, Seto! You are now honorary member of the Nikotayo tribe!"

With that, he and Vigorius grabbed Seto's hands and lifted them in the air for victory. The Nikotayos and Mokuba cheered!

"Yeah! Yay! Woo-hoo! Hey, you see that guy Seto? Yeah, he's MY big brother!"

~~  
Pretty soon the ceremonies ended, and Seto followed Chief Tanno to the 'executioning spot'. A small stone door was engraved behind the landmass.

"There you go Seto! The rest is up to you and your brother!"

He ran off. 

Back to the whole shadow magic thing, the door mysteriously opened for both of them. 

Seto placed his hands on the shoulders of his brother.

"Give me the blowtorch, Mokuba. I'm going in alone."

"Why?"

"I'm the one who passed the tests. I'm the one who can go in there."

Mokuba nodded, handing his brother the blowtorch.

It was pitch black inside the landmass. Seto slowly took two steps in. Suddenly, the floor collapsed beneath him and he fell down, with a shout.

"SETO!!"

Seto fell towards the ground. When he would hit, there was no telling. A loud WHUMPH was heard as he fell onto the ground, and he struggled to stand up, panting. There was a curious deep indent in the wall, like some type of lever belonged there.

_Honestly, I have no idea how many times I have escaped death._

Making sure that his sword, lantern, and blowtorch weren't damaged, he brushed himself off and held up his lantern, walking down a small passageway. A crack in a wall was in front of him. How could he pass through?

Turning around, he noticed a curious flower. It was green colored, with red stripes. 

_Merry Christmas..._

Remembering the plant book, he found the plant on page 51.

Volatilus Violet. A lovely flower with green petals and red stripes. VERY DANGEROUS: This plant is a 'time bomb'. It has explosive results when this violet contacts with fire.

Seto plucked a flower or two from the plant, and placed them near the crack. Stepping back a great distance, he fired.

BOOM.

Seto was flung away, landing on his back. Sitting up while coughing away the smoke, he noticed that the passage way had been opened!

Walking through, Seto noticed that there was a large deep pit between him and a gate doorway. There was a small drain at the floor of the pit. What was behind the gate doorway, Seto couldn't tell. But ABOVE the door was a red emblem! Seto fired the blowtorch and the gate opened.

_But how do I get across..._

The drain suddenly began spewing out water, and Seto finally figured that he'd need to swim across! Leaping into the water, he swam quick enough to conserve his energy. Just as he almost reached the wall, the water began to drain. Seto picked up the pace and swam to the edge, climbing out of the pit, and then running under the gate (which had begun closing). As the gate slammed to the floor, Seto panted, sopping wet. Shaking his head as water droplets flew about from his wet hair, he stood up, and his head bumped softly against what felt like a knotted rope. 

It was a knotted rope. But what was it for?

Seto pulled it, and the floor collapsed beneath him.

"WHY AM I GETTING A DEJA VU HERE?!" he shouted as he fell. Suddenly he fell on his butt onto a stone floor. Shaking his head and standing up, he looked around. A pool of water seemed to be hanging on the wall in front of him.

"What the-" he gasped as a transparent purple- 'something'- floated towards him. It resembled a masked face, only with jellyfish-like tentacles hanging off of the mask and the face underneath. It spoke to him in an unknown language.

"_Teyko-veyo-maus."_

"What the hell did you say? I can't understand you."

It spoke to him in English.

"_This is the Spirit's Test Of Balance. In this test, you must face your fears as you walk across a small wooden plank over a deep pit. If you successfully cross the plank, I will go with you to the Nikotayo Village."_

Seto nodded.

"I'll try."

The view seemed to spin around him as suddenly Seto found himself standing in a similar room to the one with the water pit. Only, there was no water in this hollow. A wooden board was spread across the pit. Dropping everything that might weigh him down, such as the blowtorch, Seto stepped onto the board with only his sword.

"_This test will begin when you feel ready._"

"Bring it on."

Seto began walking, foot in front of foot across the board.

_This seems easy enough..._

He began to pick up the pace.

Suddenly, he saw a jet of fire spew in front of his face from about eight feet away. Slowly, Seto laid himself onto the board and edged underneath the spewing flames on his stomach. Once he was safely out of the fire's range, he began to slowly stand up, wobbling mildly. He was one fourth of the way across. Two jets of fire licked near his feet. Slowly wobbling, Seto stepped over them. Now he was halfway there!

The plank began to wobble. It began trembling madly beneath his feet. 

"Whoa..."

He continued walking slowly, with his arms outstretched for balance. Three fourths were done! He was almost there!

But then, in a heartbeat, the fear took hold. A giant hand slowly began circling near him. Every time he took a step, it came nearer. It was only six inches from his face, but he had about eight steps to go until he crossed over. Edging nearer, he finally was just two steps away when suddenly the hand grabbed him and squeezed him, then put him down. Then the hand smashed against the wood and it fractured into two pieces where it struck. Seto leapt up and barely stood across on the other side from the pit. Everything began to whirl around him again, until he was back in the room where he first encountered the spirit. 

It flew behind him into the "watery portal" on the wall. Seto turned around and approached it slowly. The spirit approached him at the same time. He took a step back, as if uncertain. Suddenly, like a gunshot, the spirit flew against him, or more appropriately, into him. A cold feeling spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers, and he could see himself flying from the impact. 

His feet slowly touched the ground, and he looked around. Everything was the same, only his heart rate was now a bit faster, and everything he saw was through a transparent purple color.

The spirit was his!

"Yeah!" Seto cried, lifting a fist in the air. Now, all that remained to do was leave this place.

~~

A passageway had opened for Seto, and it lead upward back into the room he had been in before, when he 'dropped in'. Using his sword, he decided to toy with the hole he saw earlier on, like a lever. A soft whirring sound was heard. He then realized that it was a giant fan that he stood over. As it grew in strength in breeze power, Seto felt himself suddenly being lifted by the wind power. Looking up to where he fell, he saw the light from the doorway, meaning a Nikotayo had to be there! Remembering what Kenshin and Marth had said in his visions, he reached for the light with his hand. 

And he was soon face-to-face with Chief Tanno and Simetra, and his brother!

"Mokuba! Simetra! Chief Tanno!"

"Seto!" exclaimed the tribal leader. "You back real fast!"

Mokuba stared at his brother.

"Whoa! Seto! Normally, your eyes are blue, but they're purple even in the white area! How did you do that?"

"I didn't. The spirit did."

He nodded at Simetra.

"Okay then, let's get this spirit out of me!"

"Right away!"

~~

Simetra lead Seto to her tent. 

"First, to extract the spirit, you must drink this."

She handed him a small cup, with a blue liquid in it.

Seto took a sip then blanched from the taste.

"Ugh! What is this, piss?"

Simetra shook her head.

"Nope, it's a special potion."

Chugging it down quickly, Seto then stuck out his tongue. Mokuba laughed.

"Man, Seto! I wish I had a camera!"

"Shut up, Mokuba."

Simetra used a small rock to mash up some leaves in a bowl.

"Now then," she said, handing him the bowl. "Eat this."

"Yay. More shit." Seto said, using his fingers to scoop out the mash and put it in his mouth.

"ACK! THIS STUFF TASTES WORSE!"

Mokuba was bawling.

"You-haha-oughta see-hoohoo- the look on-heehee-your face, Seto! Hahahahaha!"

"SHUT UP."

What was worse was that the stuff was tough yet sticky and chewy, so he had it in his mouth for a while until he finally gulped it down.

Simetra smiled. Seto scowled at her.

"Is there any more eating and drinking involved?"

She laughed.

"Nope. Just follow me."

She led him to a small area of weeping willow trees behind the Chief's thatched hut. A small stone room was there. 

Simetra placed a lantern inside, and showed Seto the interior. It had a small branch off the main corridor that led to the right, and the corridor went on for a little bit. At the end was a painting.

Seto began to walk towards the painting, but Simetra, unnoticing, turned down the branch.

"Now then, this is where you'll release the spirit. Do you have that, Seto Kaiba?" she turned around. "Seto Kaiba?"

She walked out of the corridor to see him, staring at the painting in awe.

"Who is that girl?" asked Kaiba.

He pointed at the painting. The girl in the painting was wearing a pink kimono. She had auburn-colored hair that was worn somewhat close to her face, and she had soft eyes in a pale-brown color. There was a hint of a blush on her cheeks, and she looked happy and serene in the picture. There was a gentle air about her picture, and it made Seto's jaw slowly fall from her splendor. 

His cheeks began to glow red.

"She's so beautiful."

Simetra replied,

"Oh, I see you like that painting I made. I captured her image perfectly, didn't I? She was the first spirit giver."

"Do you know her name? Because I swear that I have seen that heavenly angel before."

"Oh, her NAME! Yes, her name, what was it... oh yes, I remember now."

"Well?"

"Serenity Wheeler."

Seto suddenly whipped around to face her.

"SERENITY WHEELER?!"

"Yes."

"She's the girl I have to rescue! It's because of her that I've nearly gotten killed so many times!"

"But was it worth it?" Simetra asked. There was a mysterious air about her. "You seem to like the rewards that lie ahead."

"Well..." Seto was beginning to turn red again. 

"Do you love her?"

"......"

"Let your heart break free."

In the dark corridor of his mind, where Kenshin and Marth had been 'ghosts', the light that had been filtering in suddenly spread immensely and it was no longer dark. And Kenshin and Marth were now whole here. And suddenly... Yugi appeared, for some reason. And Kaoru, Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Megumi appeared whole too. And last to appear in his mind was Serenity.

Seto stood entranced at the picture for a moment longer.

"Do you love her?"

Seto smiled, feeling warmth spread through him.

"I do."

Simetra patted his shoulder.

"I figured so, after all, somewhere in time, the truth will shine through."

"Yeah."

"Now then, what say you and I get this spirit out of your body?"

"All right."

Simetra left the painting and turned down the branching corridor. 

"Come on, Seto Kaiba."

"Okay, okay, I'm going."

As he left down the hallway, he stopped just before he turned away. He seemed to hear Serenity speak from the painting.

"_Don't turn away... don't you turn away..._"

Seto looked at her painting one last time, then stood by Simetra. 

She knelt on the ground, lighting two flames by an altar.

"What should I do?"

"Just stand there, Seto. The spirit knows what it has to do from here on out."

She sprinkled a powder into the flames, then began speaking in her native tongue. 

Suddenly, the cold feeling began to reemerge in his hands and a purple aura glistened around Seto's body. He fell to his knees, panting. His chest was suddenly flung forward and he spread his arms out wide, moaning. He cried out as the cold feeling spread to his heart, then exited his body. The spirit flew into a statue sculpted similarly to it. 

Warmth spread into Seto's body as Simetra helped him stand up. 

"That's it."

Seto looked at her.

"That's it?"

"Yes. Now, we ought to go see my brother, Ollopa. He'll help us out now."

~~

Ollopa stood grinning.

"I can't believe it. You actually did it!"

Seto laughed.

"Yeah."

"Very well, now then, first, you'll need this."

He handed Seto a flute made from a hard water reed.

"Now I need a piece of bark and a burnt stick to write with-"

"Just use some paper and a pen." Seto said, handing him these items.

Ollopa looked confused.

"It works the same way."

Ollopa wrote frantically, or more appropriately, drew diagrams upon the paper. He drew rectangles with circles inside, and he colored in some circles.

"Okay, now, what you must remember is that you place your fingers on the holes that match the colored circles."

Seto played a few notes.

"This reminds me of the _Ocarina of Time_."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Ollopa nodded.

"We celebrate when the sun is there in the sky." He pointed at a spot in the sky.

 Mokuba commented,

"That'll be about four pm."

Seto nodded.

"I guess I better practice until then?"

Ollopa confirmed it.

"It would be for the best."

"Got it."

"All right! Now remember, at 'four pm', you must see us by the Chief's hut. Understand?"

"I understand."

As Ollopa walked away, Mokuba and Seto high-fived each other.

The Flarenix ceremony was gonna be so cool!

~~

Four pm arrived quickly, and soon Seto and Mokuba were out by the Chief's hut. A large bonfire was lit. Chief Tanno approached the flames and threw in a handful of green powder. The flames crackled in colors of blue and green, then the fire returned to its original color. He began to speak in a canter:

"As the fires and powders dance and mix, summon forth the mighty Flarenix! For who is the fiery phoenix? Only the majestic Flarenix! Your powers are undeniably grand, meet the flutist's fine demand! Feed the poor and strengthen the weak, give the hero what he seek!"

He turned to Seto, Simetra, Ollopa, and Vigorius. 

"Play melody."

Ollopa began to play a melody on a lyre, Simetra shook two rattles, and Vigorius pounded on a drum. After playing their intro, Simetra nodded to Seto, and he began to play the melody on the flute. They went through, playing the melody twice, when suddenly, the flames began to roll about madly, until a loud shrieking bird cry was heard, and all eyes turned as fire in the form of a phoenix flew out of the flames and landed before Seto. He had no idea what to do, except to continue playing. It watched him intently, then plucked out three feathers. Two of them disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a blue "I" and white feathers. The other red feather just remained there, as if for decoration. The phoenix shrieked again, then flew back into the flames.

The chorus played their melody to its end, when Chief Tanno halted them. 

Seto asked,

"It's over?"

The Chief nodded.

"All done. There's your artifacts!"

Seto picked them up with a smile and placed them in his backpack. Vigorius held up the red feather.

"I know what to do with this..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had finally come time to leave the Nikotayo people.

"Wow, Seto Kaiba," Chief Tanno said, "I was right. There is truly something special about you."

"Thank you. I hope you and your tribe will return peacefully to your own time period... and your original village."

"Nah, we should thank you! If it wasn't for you, we would have lost our finest warrior, and we wouldn't have been able to summon the Flarenix."

Seto blushed and laughed.

Simetra winked.

"Oh, and I hope Serenity likes you, too."

Ollopa laughed.

"Because my sister does like you..."

Simetra hit her brother Ollopa. Seto sighed. 

Vigorius walked up to Seto.

"Here, um... I made this for you..."

He held up a necklace. It had the red feather of the Flarenix from the ceremony fifteen minutes ago, and it was attached to a small jade sword. This pendant was on a leather cord. He placed it around the neck of the elder Kaiba.

"I read about this sort of thing from our records... this is the Feather Sword Pendant. According to our legends, this can only be made with a feather from the Flarenix and a pendant of jade sculpted into a sword. This Feather Sword Pendant can be used only once for a miracle. So if you ever find yourself in trouble when you go hunting for Miss Serenity... this oughta come in handy."

Seto shook hands vigorously with Vigorius.

Chief Tanno added,

"Speaking of which, this is currently the only Feather Sword Pendant ever produced... so there is something VERY special about you, Seto Kaiba. Best of luck on your journey, take care of your cool little brother, and we bid you fond farewell."

With that, Chief Tanno said something to his tribe in a foreign language.

And Seto and Mokuba watched as everyone bowed to them... everyone... from common people to Vigorius, Ollopa, and Simetra. Even Chief Tanno was bowing. Seto smiled at Mokuba, and the brothers displayed common courtesy by bowing back.

As the tribe waved good-bye, Ollopa began to sing a beautiful tribal song as Seto and Mokuba walked off.

~~~~~~~

 Seto and Mokuba were closer to the dojo.

"Can you believe it, Mokuba? Ten artifacts, and four more to go!"

"Yeah, Seto! We've come a long way!"

The Kaiba brothers walked and talked until they finally reached the Kamiya Dojo at sunset.

"Kenshin! Marth!" Seto ran to greet them. Mokuba also ran to greet Yahiko.

"Seto!" cried Kenshin. He ran over and put his hands on the shoulders of his apprentice, and Marth held on to Seto's hands.

"We wondered what happened to you..." Marth said.

"I'll talk after dinner." Seto said.

"And after a bath," Yahiko commented. "you two smell awful, nothing personal."

~~~

After dinner, Seto, Kenshin, and Marth had gone down to visit the hot springs at night. Not only so Seto would freshen up a bit, but also so he could speak with them alone.

"So, Seto," Marth said, shifting around a bit in the hot springs to his comfort. "What's up?"

"Well..." Seto said, toying with the Feather Sword Pendant around his neck. "I've had you guys on my mind a lot..."

Kenshin asked, "What do you mean, exactly?"

"Well, the thought of you guys made me feel weird. It wasn't love or hatred, but not really in-between... you guys seemed to make me stronger, and encourage me with your words. In my mind, you were always telling me to 'reach for the light'. I mean, not only that, but like you guys have rubbed off on me- like when I tripped up in the mountains, the first thing I said was 'oro!'. I'm probably just going insane..."

Marth and Kenshin smiled at him.

"I figured I went crazy."

Kenshin laughed.

"No, no, it's not that. Back when I was battousai, I had this sort of feeling when I met Kaoru."

Seto groaned.

"Oh man, I'm in love."

Marth laughed and Kenshin blushed.

"No, not in LOVE with us, you just like us. Like how Yahiko likes your brother Mokuba."

"Yeah... but I don't get this liking stuff... I mean, it's sort of been on and off for me and Yugi..."

Kenshin smiled.

"Don't you see?"

"See what?"

His smile grew warmer.

"_Seto-dono... it's friendship._"

Marth added,

"Yeah. It just feels weird because you've never really felt friendship before."

Seto nodded, and looked down at his reflection in the water.

Marth spoke shyly.

"Kenshin and I could be your friends... if you want..."

Seto smiled at the prince and the samurai.

"I'd like that."

They stargazed as the hot water soothed their tired muscles.

"Makes me just wanna capture a star." Seto said.

"Yeah," Marth added, "star-catching deep in the night..."

~~~~

Seto did end up telling them about Serenity, and he did grow to have friendships with Kaoru, Sano, Megumi, and Yahiko by the time he fell asleep. He learned how to perform the Ryu-Jut-Sen attack and the Ryu-Kazi-Sen attack, and he slept peacefully through the night. 

And after being accepted as his friend, Yahiko woke Seto softly on the next morning.

"Hey, Seto-chan. Gotta get up, buddy. Kenshin and Marth have your assignment for today."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

bijoukaiba: *wipes away sweat * At last, Chapter 7 is done!

Kaoru: Your longest chapter.

Miroku: Well, just keep up the good work!

Vash: Yeah! Only four artifacts to go!

Jou: And the ending might be coming up sooner than we realize!

Bijoukaiba: *nods* But keep reading this story anyway! I have a surprise planned for the end of my last Chapter...


	8. Danger Lurks In Deep Waters

Dragon Emblem

Bijoukaiba: Hello! I hate the fact that FrontPage is screwed up on my computer and I'm forced to use stupid damn Microsoft Word... Grr...

Conan: Erm... right... peers at B-K with magnifying glass Curious girl....

Bijoukaiba: .................... . ........... here's Chapter 8.................

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rurouni Kenshin, or Fire Emblem.

Chapter 8: Danger Lurks In Dark Waters

Seto finished a sip of his green tea. Marth took another bite of egg, then spoke to Seto.

"Kenshin and I are sending you to the ocean today, to-"

"Get another artifact, I know." Seto said, wiping his mouth. Marth nodded seriously.

"Not only that, but there's a bit of rescuing to be done, like you did for me and Mokuba."

Seto lifted an eyebrow.

Kenshin shook his head.

"No, not Miss Serenity. Marth's friends have been kidnapped through time, like he was."

Marth said,

"Their names are Oguma, Sheida, and Roy. Please, Seto, do your best to save them!"

"I will. And besides that, once I'm done, I'll have just two more artifacts to go!"

Marth nodded uneasily.

"Yeah..."

After getting dressed in a blue tunic, with Mokuba wearing a blue kimono donated by Yahiko, Seto was ready to go!

"Can you believe it, Mokuba?" Seto said after leaving the dojo. "We're getting really close to saving Serenity!"

"Yeah! I wonder what our reward will be..."

Seto looked up at the sky.

"Who knows..."

Mokuba grinned.

"Are you gonna kiss her when you save her?"

Seto flushed bright red.

"Mokuba! That is not true!"

Mokuba smirked.

"I don't know, your face seems to say so."

Seto put a hand over the mouth of his brother.

"Shut up and let's keep walking."

They walked onward towards the seashore, stopping to eat some fruit for lunch.

Just as they got up to leave, a voice caught their attention.

"Well, well. Looks like we got trespassers!"

Three soldiers stepped out of the bushes.

"I'm John, and this is Richard and Terrence!"

A girl's voice caught the attention of the soldiers and the Kaibas.

"And you're all major assholes!"

She rolled out of the brush nearby. There were leaves tangled in her pale blue hair, and she was dressed in the same type of clothes style that Marth usually wore. She looked up at Seto Kaiba. Her blue eyes met his blue eyes.

"You there, please help me!"

Seto looked at Mokuba.

"Should we?"

Mokuba nodded.

"Why not?"

Seto withdrew his blade and fought with each soldier. He took down Terrence with the Do-Ryu-Sen, and Richard was done in with Mokuba using a blowtorch attack. And Seto used Dancing Blade against John.

"Hyah!"

John and his two teammates lay on the ground bloody. Mokuba went over and untied the girl.

"You know," he said, blushing, "you're pretty!"

Ignoring him, the girl suddenly ran over to Seto and grabbed him by his blue tunic firmly.

"Okay, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MARTH?!"

"Oro? I-"

"Don't talk your way out of this, mister! You have to have hurt him somehow! Why else would you be wearing Marth's clothes and using his sword style?!"

"Miss, I did nothing to Marth Leau, that I didn't. He's actually a friend of mine!"

"Well then, what's my name? He must have said something about me..."

Mokuba grinned.

"Her name can't be Roy or Oguma, those are guy names. So I guess this is Sheida!"

She gasped.

"You do- know him..."

Seto smiled.

"He's very nice to me, that he is."

A hint of red glow began to form around Sheida's cheeks.

"Yeah... he's VERY nice..."

Mokuba frowned.

"Sure, he's nice, but what about me? I untied you & I helped keep Seto calm while fighting those bad guys!"

Sheida knelt down by Mokuba, and winked at Seto.

"Oh yes, you WERE very brave! If I get attacked again, I'll be sure YOU protect me! Such a good fighter; doesn't even need a sword!"

She kissed his cheek softly and Mokuba giggled. Seto laughed.

"Anyway, you lovebirds, I better tell Sheida which way it is to the Kamiya Dojo, where Marth is waiting."

Sheida went over, and Seto handed her a piece of parchment with directions scribbled on it.

"There you go, you can't get lost now, I don't think!"

"Thanks!"

"But before you go, I thought I'd let you know that I'm Seto Kaiba, and this is my brother, Mokuba."

Sheida looked from the younger to elder Kaiba.

"I'll let Marth know you're all right, Seto. Good luck on... well, whatever you're doing!"

She hugged Seto quickly and ran off towards the dojo.

Seto and Mokuba continued walking to the sea. Dark clouds were starting to lurk overhead.

"A little jealous, Mokuba?"

"Eh, shut up. Sheida only HUGGED you. She kissed ME! Besides that, Seto, aren't you forgetting about Serenity?"

He looked up dreamily, his cheeks a faint red color.

"Oh yeah..."

"And anyway," Mokuba added, "Sheida seems to like Marth a lot..."

"Guess you're out of luck!"

Seto laughed until a hurtling ball of fire from the blowtorch barely missed his head.

The closer they came to the shore, the darker the clouds seemed to get.

"Gee," Mokuba said nervously, "the sky's gotten a lot darker..."

As they heard the roar of soft ocean waves, rain had begun falling.

"Man..." Mokuba groaned. "the sea looks really rough... you could be killed sailing out there!"

Seto put a hand to his head.

"And what's worse is, there's an island out there, and Oguma or Roy might be held there..."

"Well, there's a boat down that way..."

A familiar voice made Mokuba and Seto spin around.

"Here we go again..."

The purple-robed shopkeeper approached them.

"Hiya! Right down there, it is. It isn't really the best boat on the sea... but I'd rather ride in it than go swimming to rescue Roy or Oguma..."

"QUIT SPYING ON US, YOU STALKER!"

"It's wooden and fits two passengers, paddle-propelled."

Seto went over beside the boat, and let his blue-gloved hand slide over the paneling on its sides.

"For a wood boat, it's not so bad... thanks for the help, I guess."

The shopkeeper turned and began to walk away.

Mokuba smiled.

"See, Seto? You act like he's a mean guy, but he's pretty nice!"

The shopkeeper suddenly ran over.

"What's wrong?" Seto asked.

"I forgot something!"

"What?"

The shopkeeper panted for a few seconds more, then held out his hand.

"That'll be ten yen!"

Mokuba sighed.

_Maybe I spoke too soon..._

After the shopkeeper was paid and left, Mokuba climbed into the boat.

"Let's go, Seto! We gotta save Roy and Oguma!"

Looking back out at the sea, Seto took a deep breath.

"No, Mokuba."

"Hmm?"

"You stay here. The sea is too dangerous. Besides, the boat only fits two people, so I'll need room for either Oguma or Roy."

Mokuba looked down worriedly.

"But Seto..."

His older brother placed his hands on his shoulders.

"I promise I'll be alright, Mokuba. Wish me luck."

As Seto pushed the boat into the violent waters, he climbed in and began paddling.

As he drifted away, he called back to Mokuba.

"Just keep the blowtorch with you, Mokuba! Be careful!"

Mokuba watched as the boat grew fainter on the horizon amid the stormy waves.

_Just promise me you'll be careful too, Seto..._

An hour had passed since Seto went out to sea.

Shaking his head, he cleared up feelings of seasickness. The waves were rocking him about madly.

The sky had turned what could almost be described as greenish black, and the pouring of heavy rain created an obscure curtain that one could barely see through. As Seto took a break from paddling, letting the waves toy with his small boat, he looked back from his departing point, then to the direction he was heading.

"Man," he said, nervously, "the sea wasn't nearly THIS rough before..."

He placed the paddles back in the water and continued making smooth strokes despite the stormy waters.

Thunder began to rumble softly. It had been windy and raining, but there hadn't been any thunder or lightning...

Seto looked up at the sky.

_How could this get any worse?_

A loud clap of thunder jolted Mokuba awake. He had begun to sleep, clutching his blowtorch. Shaking his head, he watched as a bolt of lightning struck down far away, illuminating the sky, beauty and death in a spectacular light show.

_It's too dangerous now..._

Mokuba stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed as loud as he could.

"SETO!!!!!!!! SETO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SETO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He listened for a reply, but no sound could be heard.

He fired a shot from the blowtorch into the sky, like a signal flare, but still, no reply.

Mokuba looked up into the stormy sky.

_Where are you?............_

Seto had to fumble furiously to paddle through the water. It seemed as though the ocean sensed his fear and was trying to scare him even more.

_But I have to be brave! For Mokuba! For Kenshin and Marth! For Oguma or Roy! And most importantly, for Serenity..._

He looked up at the stormy sky.

_What if she's stuck in this desolate storm too? Is she still alive? I wonder what she's thinking right now..._

As Seto had predicted, Serenity was being held far away, inside a cage. She looked to the stormy area over by the sea. It was pretty cloudy there, too... wherever she was...

"What did I do to deserve such a fate?" she asked. "I'm just here to deliver some medicine..."

She brushed a strand of her auburn hair away from her face.

"I guess it could be worse... it could be storming here, but it's not..."

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Whoever is stuck in THAT storm... I'd really pity them... especially if they were coming to rescue me and help those little children..."

Tears began welling up in her eyes.

"Why hasn't anyone come yet? General Espa has to have sent SOMEONE... I don't care who comes to save me..."

She began sobbing softly.

"Just send someone... anyone... as long as the medicine gets through... Yugi... Joey... Tea'... even Kaiba... anyone..."

Serenity straightened up a bit.

_Just please help the children..._

The torrent of rain continued to flush at Seto's face, and he kept pushing himself on. He had to keep going, no matter what. It was getting harder and harder to paddle, and he had cramps in his arms and shoulders.

_This is just perfect._

A powerful wave caught a paddle and ripped it from his grasp.

"Shit," he muttered, bending over near the water to find the paddle.

_Yes indeed, just perfect. There's no way this could get any better..._

A wave struck the boat and Seto flipped out into the water. He was right; the current really was powerful!

As he swam back to the surface, a wave knocked him back under, the torrents still messing with him, dragging him under constantly. Exhausted, Seto finally caught a breath of air above the surface, yet he went down under again. The strength he had left his body, and Seto passed out.

Seto stood up shakily. He was on dry land, but he wasn't wet or near the sea.

_Where am I?..._

Two African men walked past.

"We have to deliver the news."

"No matter how tragic."

They paid no attention to Seto. Curious to his sudden inexistence, he walked over to a window. He looked for his reflection, but it wasn't there.

_It's as if I don't exist anymore..._

He walked over and noticed a sign that read, "Mombasa, 16 mi. east."

_I really AM in Africa... in Kenya, to be exact._

He heard a knocking on the door about nine or ten yards away.

Seto walked over to see the two men talking to a nurse by the door.

"I'm sorry," said one man, "but we have some bad news to deliver."

"You see," said the second man, "Serenity was kidnapped by a mysterious figure, and they sent an agent to get her. You know, right ma'am? General Espa and the IDA? Anyway, he was lost at sea about two days ago... and because of the circumstances, it'll take a month before they can get another agent suitable for the mission."

The nurse spoke.

"So you're saying... the medicine won't be here in time?"

The man nodded.

"Not in time for those children."

Seto gasped as he heard the first man speak again.

"We're going to lose them."

Walking around behind the hospital, he gazed in a window. The children were displaying symptoms of pepper fever- the sweating and red faces. It was just like that little boy's life he had saved when he went to fight Morpho.

_So this is what... could happen?..._

He looked down.

_I can't let this happen..._

A tapping sound was heard a distance away. Seto walked over to see a man hammering nails into wood. He walked even closer to see he was building a coffin.

_Everyone doesn't believe in me... but I'll prove them wrong! Somehow..._

He suddenly felt sopping wet and he was standing on a beach.

The spray of water at his face awoke Seto. He sat up and brushed the sand from his hair. His clothes were moderately damp. The storm appeared to have subsided.

_How long have I been sleeping anyway?_

He had only begun to stand up when he sat back down again quickly as two soldiers walked past. He was sitting behind a large wall of large rocks, so he was fortunate they hadn't seen him.

"Do ya think that Roy kid is gonna escape from us?"

_Roy__ IS here!_

"Nah, he ain't got a snowball's chance in Hades!"

Seto waited till they were a safe distance away, then began to follow them.

Hiding in some brush nearby, he watched soldiers cooking some fish over a fire, apparently beginning to prepare an early dinner. And sitting across the fire-

-was a boy in shackles. He had fire-red hair and blue eyes like sapphires. He wore a red tunic and yellow armor, once again, in the style of Marth's clothes. The boy also looked to be Mokuba's age.

_That must be Roy!_

Now lay the predicament. He had to free Roy, and there was no way to sneak by the guards. There was only one open option, Seto realized, staring at the guard dozing with the keys.

"YAHH!!"

He leapt into the open and everyone gaped in confusion as he dove forward, grabbed the keys off the ground, and threw them to Roy.

It took the guards only a minute to realize what had happened as Roy stood up, liberated at last.

"RUN!!" Seto cried, driving his blade through an attacking foe.

"Oh, right!" The red head prince began running off with Seto in close pursuit.

"This way!"

An arrow whizzed past Seto's head.

"Wha? Arrows?"

"What do we do?"

"Run FASTER!!"

Picking up the pace, Roy and Seto fled with their pursuers trailing when suddenly…

"Cliff!" Roy shouted.

Seto stopped at the edge, watching pebbles plummet into the water. But on the shore below was the boat he had arrived in!

The soldiers faced them, arrows held erect at them from their bows.

Grabbing Roy's hand, Seto said only one thing to his companion.

"Trust me on this."

Roy gulped as he felt a rough yank that almost seemed to wrench his arm from his socket.

"Jump!"

Leaping into the watery depths, the younger prince shouted.

"Before we die, I have one question to ask!!!"

"Yeah???!!!"

"WHAT'S YOUR NAAAAAMEEEE???"""

"SETO KAI-"

They landed into the water with a large splash. The soldiers watched from above for awhile, then, after waiting long enough to be sure that they had drowned, walked away without their prisoner.

Seto and Roy had swam around the edge of the cliff to take a breather, then after watching the guards retreat, they swam back to shore and sat in the boat merely talking, eager to be resting.

"So you're also friends with Marth?"

"Yeah, and I've already met Sheida too! Say Roy, do you know where I may find Oguma?"

"Oguma? Huh… sorry Kaiba, but I honestly have no idea."

"Hmmm…. Well, we oughta head back now that we're feeling better. Mokuba's probably worried sick."

"Mokuba?"

"My little brother, I forgot to mention. I have a feeling you'll like him."

Each with a paddle in hand, they rowed back to the opposite shore in two hours.

"Seto!!!" Mokuba cried, hugging his brother, "Seto, you- hey, you're soaking wet."

Roy and Seto chuckled.

"No matter how late it is, we better go find Oguma… and the artifacts."

The annoying voice returned again.

"Hiya! As in like an indigo colored letter 'U' and a pretty gal's picture?"

(((Bijoukaiba: . Guess who?)))

Seto turned around.

"Twice in one day?"

Roy gazed back at the figure.

"Is it…"

The shopkeeper spoke.

"You can have the artifacts for-"

"Name your price."

He smiled.

"I have no interest in money this time. I want the red-head prince!"

Roy leapt up.

"Hey! I knew it was you! Him! He's the one who bossed those soldiers around to catch me!"

The shopkeeper leapt back.

"Wha-what?"

Roy spoke again.

"He's also been commenting that this time he's going to stop Seto Kaiba, IDA or not! That's you!"

Seto stared back at the shopkeeper.

"I thought I recognized your voice elsewhere! You haven't been just some greedy shopkeeper, you must have some other grudge with me! And based on what Roy's said, it must have taken place before the IDA was founded!!"

The shopkeeper jumped up and down angrily.

"NO! NO! NO! YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM!"

His jumping caused a golden scepter with a golden winged eye to fall out of his robes.

"Ooops…."

Seto gasped.

"The Millennium Rod?"

The shopkeeper was beginning to sweat heavily.

"What's that? I've never heard of it!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU USED IN THE PAST TO TRICK MY FATHER INTO SURRENDERING ME TO YOU, BASTARD!!"

Roy tackled the shopkeeper angrily and at long last, his purple hood from his robe slipped off, to reveal the shopkeeper had a deep Egyptian-tan complexion, pale sandy brown hair, and hauntingly deep purple eyes.

"You brat!" Screamed the shopkeeper.

"MARIK ISHTAR!!!!" Seto gasped.

Marik grabbed Roy into a firm hold and reached into his robes for a dagger.

"Don't try me! Or I'll kill the boy!"

He pointed it to Roy's chin.

"Seto, help!"

A well-aimed fireball knocked Marik away from Roy.

"Who says Seto can do all the helping?" Mokuba asked with a grin. He nodded to his older brother.

"He's all yours, Seto!"

Marik sheathed his dagger and drew a small sword.

"Draw your blade, Kaiba!" He snarled. "We do battle now!"

Seto unsheathed his sword. With a cry, the two foes dove towards each other.

As their swords clashed, a voice echoed in the air.

"Marik, that is enough!"

Mokuba gasped.

"It's God!"

Seto was in awe and so was Marik.

"That- voice-!"

Marik growled.

"Hey! I can take this guy!"

"You've served your purpose! You can go retreat to the Shadow Realm now!"

A black and purple lightning bolt struck Marik. He collapsed to the ground, all color gone from his eyes.

"Whoa!" Mokuba cried. "He's been sent to the Shadow Realm!"

Seto stared into the sky.

"But why? Who are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Because I'm going to be the one who has the honor to defeat you in battle this time!"

_This must be… that guy that Wooly warned me about!_

"What do you want with Serenity though?"

"Isn't it obvious? I had friends of mine force the Rip Tides and Star Raptor into other missions, leaving solitary agents. Yugi and Mai were previously injured, and Mokuba and Rebecca are too young for the missions, despite their experience. This corners it down to Serenity, the only good agent remaining in the IDA. After she was captured, all that remained was a stupid and weak new recruit who barely passed the tests a week ago!"

"Watch your mouth, asshole! What do you have against the children?"

"Oh, this has nothing to do with CHILDREN anymore, I'm afraid. No, no, we're talking about the fate of the WORLD, no, possibly the UNIVERSE!!!!"

Seto, Mokuba, and Roy were speechless.

"Those children were merely bait to lure Miss Serenity away and leave the weakest link in the guard to defend! Pepper fever was an illness that had 'died out' many years ago, around this era. Using our technology, we went into the past and retrieved the virus then spread to the weakest immune systems we could find to cause an epidemic, and our answer was Kenya! Those children don't really matter, they were just stupid bait!"

"You… BASTARD!!!!!" Seto shouted. "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SICK AND HEARTLESS!!!!"

An evil laugh filled the air as the voice diminished in volume until it absolutely had faded out.

Seto was left standing there in silence.

"His voice… it sounded so familiar…"

Roy walked up to Seto and said,

"Um… here are the artifacts."

"Thanks. We'll show these to my friends, and then we can come back with Marth and Kenshin and save Oguma."

The Kaiba brothers and Roy arrived at the Kamiya Dojo around seven that evening. Everyone was given dinner before discussing the artifacts. It turned out by sheer luck and some brute fighting, Oguma had escaped to the Kamiya Dojo.

"Tomorrow, I'm gonna go get the last set!"

Marth sighed. "I was afraid you would say that, Seto."

Kaoru said, "See, there's only two places left to go- one's the final stop, and the other's a friendly village. So we're short some artifacts I'm afraid."

Seto fell back against the wall in defeat.

Oguma looked confused.

"Artifacts?"

Marth nodded.

"Seto needed to collect fourteen, but he only got twelve."

Oguma sighed.

"Oh… cause all I found was a sculpture of an 'S' in the shade of purple and a horseshoe."

Everyone lurched forward at Oguma.

Seto laughed.

"Mokuba! We're going to Fortius Plateau!"

"It's time to save Serenity, big brother!"

"And as for the clues?" Yahiko asked.

"We find out who my enemy is!"

After ten minutes, they still had no clue.

Sheida suggested,

"What if we somehow look at the clues together?"

Yahiko scoffed.

"Oh please! Like the feathers and paintbrush mean the artist can fly. Or with the horseshoe, a flying horse!"

Mokuba scowled.

"A flying horse is not a crazy idea! Sheida's very creative!!"

Seto sat up.

"A flying horse… a flying horse who's an artist, filthy rich, drinks wine, relates to myths, loves cartoons, and adores that girl…"

Mokuba looked at Seto confused, then his eyes widened.

"Seto… are you thinking what I think you're thinking…?"

Seto looked up at everyone, eyes wide in surprise.

"Seto-san?" Kenshin asked.

He uttered only six words.

"My final enemy……… it's Maximillian Pegasus……"

Bijoukaiba: Did I catch anyone by surprise?! Seto's fighting Pegasus!

Bakura: Oh my.

Kagome: Oh yes. PS, Bijoukaiba now accepts questions about the future of Dragon Emblem. Like one thing that might be on your mind is…

Naruto: Will there be a sequel to Dragon Emblem?

Bijoukaiba: The answer is yes! I am currently working out my ideas for the second one! What's gonna be in it, I'm not gonna say!

Ishizu: Please, now submit your reviews!


	9. Final Showdown at Fortius Plateau

Bijoukaiba: Seto prepares to fight his newly discovered final enemy, Maximillian Pegasus in Chapter 9 of Dragon Emblem. Please read. Oh, and FYI, my stories weren't removed because of hackers; the administrators here took it off because it broke a rule that they brought back on July 27. I had no idea about having to remove my stories "The StarFox Vacation" and "Yu-Gi-Oh! Meets Poke'mon" because I was on vacation, so I got in trouble. Please don't let them remove my account! I'm sorry, I had no idea!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rurouni Kenshin, or Fire Emblem.

Chapter 9: Final Showdown at Fortius Plateau

Mokuba looked at his brother in surprise.

"Are you sure that it's Pegasus, Seto?"

His older brother didn't take his eyes off the artifacts.

"I'm almost p-positive." There was a slight tremor in his voice.

Kaoru didn't notice the quiver in his voice. She said,

"Well, if you know who he is, I guess you've fought him before, right? So you know his weakness and can defeat him again?"

Seto slammed his fists on the table and hung his head. Mokuba looked sadly from Seto to Kaoru.

"Seto fought Pegasus before, but…"

"I'll explain." Seto said softly.

Flashback

"It was two years ago. Pegasus had thrown a huge dueling tournament. Before it began, I was defeated by Yugi. This defeat left me weak, and Pegasus kidnapped my brother to try to take over Kaiba Corp, my company. One thing lead to another, and I eventually had to battle Pegasus to save my brother, but in Duel Monsters instead of swordsmanship. However…"

"There are no more cards you can play, Kaiba-boy! Therefore you lose!"

Seto stood there in defeated silence.

Pegasus smirked.

"And you've lost more than just this duel! You lost your only hope to save your little brother!"

"No…"

Pegasus continued to enjoy his victory by toying with Kaiba's emotions.

"You let him down! You failed! Some big brother you are! Haha! Ah, but don't worry, I'll spare you the misery of carrying on without him!"

He removed a blank card from his pocket and the Millennium Eye began to glow.

"What is that?!"

"The final fate of your soul, Seto Kaiba!"

End Flashback

"I was humiliated again that day… and now I've got to fight him again to save the world- maybe even the universe- and everyone is relying on me… to do something I can't…"

Kaoru spoke softly.

"Seto… don't say that…"

"I'm a much better duelist than I am a swordsman, but I lost to Pegasus in dueling and it just goes to show you how much of a chance I stand against him in swordsmanship!"

Sano stood up.

"Don't say that! You're a great swordsman! I've never seen you play this Duo Masters game before, but I think you'd probably be as good a swordsman as you are a duelist! Maybe even better!"

Seto looked at Sano through the corner of his eye.

"Maybe… but the moves I currently know are probably too weak for Pegasus… if only I could learn a really powerful sword attack… even if it isn't part of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu… I'll learn it if it means I'll have a chance…"

Kenshin glanced at Seto in a curious way.

The brown haired swordsman stood up and left the table.

"I'm going to bed. Come on, Mokuba…"

Sheida looked at him with sympathy as he left the room. When he was gone, she spoke to her friends.

"We should do whatever we can to help Seto out!"

Kaoru nodded. "Pegasus must really be a stressful person to deal with!"

"But what can we do?" Oguma asked.

"Maybe he should take tomorrow off to train and have some fun, get the stress off his mind!" Yahiko chirped. "Like maybe Roy and I could help Mokuba with target practice or something so he won't distract Seto!"

Sano looked to Oguma.

"He's pretty slim and fragile, we'll help him work out a little bit to get some muscle mass."

Kenshin spoke remotely soft.

"There's a sword technique I could teach Seto-sama…"

"Which one is that?" Kaoru asked.

Kenshin smiled. "I'm sure he'll tell you if he defeats Pegasus with it."

Kaoru, in reply, added,

"Sheida and I will treat Seto to lunch."

"Seto can have some rest and relaxation time in the afternoon to help cool off from everything and if he's hurt I'll heal him!" Megumi suggested.

Marth mentioned he would treat Seto to dinner.

The schedule for Seto's last full day with them was ready.

Yahiko and Roy awakened the Kaiba brothers.

"Seto!"

"Mokuba!"

"Time for breakfast!"

"And your final training day!"

Seto and Mokuba sat up.

"Final training day?" They asked in unison.

Yahiko lead them to a tasty breakfast prepared by Kenshin- a light miso soup and some fruit.

Sano explained,

"See, we figured you should spend one more day with us at the dojo to say good bye and to prepare for tomorrow and the fight against Pegasus! After breakfast you're gonna be working with Oguma and I, then lunch with Sheida and Kaoru, some lessons with Kenshin, then a long nap, and dinner with Marth. Mokuba will be training with Yahiko and Roy."

"I guess it'd be nice to have some fun before I die."

Sano sweatmark ;;

Oguma greeted Seto and Sano as they walked outside.

"Well, shall we begin?"

They hauled a log onto a tree stump.

"Seto, start chopping." Sano commanded.

Grabbing the ax, Seto brought it down and split the log in half.

"Good! Now another!"

Oguma heaved a log onto the stump and Seto whacked at it.

"Still more to come!" Sano added.

Seto went through eight more logs.

"I'm getting a little tired!" He said, wiping away some sweat. Removing his kimono top, Seto fanned himself for a moment, then continued his hacking away at logs.

After about an hour later, Sano told him there were no more logs.

"Great! How many did I go through?"

"Uh… sixty-four…"

"Whew! No wonder I was tired! Glad it's over!"

Oguma laughed.

"That's right! Now you can carry the firewood to the shed!"

Seto anime' fall

Meanwhile…

"Rock paper scissors shoot!"

"Paper beats rock, Roy!"

"Best four out of seven?"

"No way!" Yahiko said. "You're gonna be Mokuba's target first!"

Mokuba prepared the blowtorch.

"Ready guys?"

Roy dressed up in some armor and Yahiko sat a few feet away holding a bucket of water and grinning.

Mokuba fired at Roy, who moved the best he could to dodge the attack. Another fireball came hurtling towards Roy and he yelped in pain. Yahiko laughed from the sidelines.

But he wasn't laughing thirty minutes later.

"YEOWCH!"

"How do YOU like it, eh?" Roy laughed, rolling on the ground with a few bandages on his arms and face.

"I DON'T- OWW!!" A fireball blasted Yahiko again.

Thirty minutes later Mokuba ended target practice.

"Thanks for the help, guys."

"No problem," Roy said, "we may smell like Kaoru's cooking, we may be burnt in many places, and some of our hair has been burnt off, but at least we're helping you and Seto save the world!"

Yahiko nodded.

"Hey, how about we head over to the Akabeko for lunch? My treat, guys!"

Sheida and Kaoru sat eating sushi with Seto.

"Mmm… I love this sushi stuff!" Sheida said, picking up another tuna roll with her chopsticks.

"Seto, how's yours?" Kaoru asked.

"Delicious, indeed it is!"

Trying to take his mind off the subject of Pegasus and his past defeat, Kaoru commented,

"Well, when you beat Pegasus, what do you think you'll do?"

"I dunno… Espa probably will kill me for all the screw-ups I've made. If I get fired, maybe… maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Um… stay here… with Kenshin and Marth and everyone? If that's okay…"

Kaoru smiled.

"Seto, we'd love it if you stayed here!"

He smiled back.

"Even if I don't get fired by some miracle, I could always visit…"

Sheida laughed.

"See? It all works out!"

Seto frowned.

"But if I lose to Pegasus… then that won't happen… and that's pretty damn likely…"

Kaoru smacked her forehead with an exasperated sigh.

"SETO! Quit worrying and eat your sushi in peace."

Seto gave her a sulky look.

"Fine."

_But I don't think there's anything that they can do to help me believe in myself…_

Walking to the dojo, Seto asked Kaoru a question.

"I heard from Sano that Kenshin's gonna teach me a new sword technique. One that may really mean the difference in my battle with Pegasus. What attack is it?"

Kaoru looked nervously at the ground.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I tried asking him about it last night, but he was very mysterious about it… must be something powerful, I would think. Then again, I don't really know everything about Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu…"

Sheida looked up into the sky.

"What move indeed…?"

(((bijoukaiba: Okay, before you continue reading, just form a hypothesis in your head as to what move Seto's going to learn. Do you have it? Good. Now read on and see if you were right. No cheating!)))

Seto entered the main training room of the Kamiya dojo. It was quite spacious, with a wooden target in the middle of the class, and there were name plates on the wooden walls. One said "Kamiya Kaoru, Assistant Master"; however, the Master's nameplates had apparently been removed. Seto then remembered what Kaoru had said about her lost father, and it made him think back to when he lost his father as well.

"My emotions can leave me so weak," Seto said softly. "That's why I always acted so stoically."

"But sometimes emotions are what can bring us through."

Seto turned around to see the Rurouni.

"Kenshin."

"Seto."

They stood staring at each other for a moment wordlessly.

"Seto-sama, I remember hearing you say that you wanted to learn a move powerful enough to defeat Pegasus."

"Yes."

"I… I think I know what move you need. To learn how to use it, you'll need a sakabato for your training, but once you've learned this attack, it can be performed with any type of blade. It will take true skill to learn to use this attack… and true heart and courage too. I'll need to remember that as well."

He turned away with a small tremble.

"Kenshin… what's…"

"What's wrong? Nothing. I've been proud to have you as my apprentice, but not nearly as proud as I am to have you as my friend. I'm just a little sad and nervous at the same time, after all… this attack… is the last thing I can teach you before you fight Pegasus… and I just hope it works..."

"But what attack are you going to teach me?"

Silence.

"Kenshin?"

"Seto-sama."

He turned around, Battousai in his eyes.

"I'm going to teach you the ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki. This is the final, and ultimate, attack of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. I'm really jumping the gun in teaching it to you, but if you learn it successfully enough, then I have all confidence you will defeat Pegasus."

Seto tried to repeat what he said.

"The on a daiquiri…"

"Ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki. It attacks the target points of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu with lightning speed in a powerful display."

Kenshin nodded to the target.

Withdrawing his own sakabato, he attacked it.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style Ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki!"

The target shattered from the force of his blade.

"Awesome! Kenshin, I'm ready. Where's my target?" Seto looked around.

"I'm going to teach you in the same way that my master, Hiko, taught me. You see, Seto, I highly doubt Pegasus will sit around and wait for your assault. You will need to attack a moving target, that you will."

Seto gasped.

"I see that you understand why I gave you a sakabato for training purposes. If you are to master this attack, you must unleash it upon me."

"But you said you almost killed Hiko when you used it against him, even with a sakabato! What if I…"

"Seto, worry not! Think about this, what is more important here - the fate of the world or my life?"

"I can't do that Kenshin! I won't!"

Kenshin drew his blade and flicked it towards the ground.

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

The attack caught Seto off guard and he flew back.

"Kenshin? Why?"

"Until you unleash the ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki, I'm going to keep attacking you!"

"I'm not going to put you in danger, sensei."

"Then you leave me no choice. Ryu-Jut-Sen!"

The force of the sword in Seto's shoulder made him cry out. Maybe he could defend somehow!

Kenshin attacked again and Seto tried Counter against it.

"Mitsura-AAH!"

Kenshin still struck him successfully.

_He's too fast for Marth's moves!_

Seto stumbled onto the ground.

"Do it!"

"Never!"

Another blow.

He struggled to stand up.

"Seto!"

"I won't!"

"Do-Ryu-Sen!"

Seto flew against the wall, hit it painfully and fell to the floor on his knees.

He forced himself to stand up.

_I'm getting too weak for this…_

"Seto, I don't want to do this either, but I have no choice! Use the ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki!"

Kenshin walked closer to Seto ready for another attack.

Feeling the strength rise inside him, Seto spoke.

"Kenshin, you asked for it, so I'm sorry for having to do this… but I really do have no choice! Hiten Mitsurugi Style ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki!"

As Seto went through with his attack, there was only enough time for them to think instead of speak what they were feeling.

_I'm sorry Kenshin!_

_Very good, Seto-san, very good…_

The attack hit Kenshin, and the force was so great that he was sent flying into the opposite wall of the dojo. Seto stood panting for a moment after his attack, then reality struck him as he realized what he had done.

"Kenshin! Kenshin!"

He ran over to where his teacher was struggling to walk over to him. He placed his hands on Kenshin's shoulders.

"Oh Kenshin, I…"

"I knew you could do it, Seto-dono." He said softly. He faced Seto with tears in his eyes, not from pain, but from pride and happiness. "You are ready to use the ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki in battle against Pegasus, and I know you will win. Because you are a true swordsman, not for only power, but for heart as well. Just do one last favor for me and get Megumi for me…"

Kenshin collapsed into Seto's arms, his head resting on his shoulder.

"Kenshin…"

He buried his face into his the shoulder of his injured friend.

"I won't let you down, I swear it, Kenshin. I will defeat Pegasus… for you…"

He gently laid his teacher upon the floor of the dojo and ran as fast as his tired body would take him to Megumi.

Megumi finished applying the bandages to Kenshin's chest.

"Seto," she said softly. "Kenshin will be all right, you need not worry. It's a good thing you both were using sakabatos for your training. If you used your real sword… I probably shouldn't mention it."

"Thanks."

She smiled and began bandaging his shoulder where Kenshin had attacked with the ryu-jut-sen.

"But even with a sakabato, I'm surprised Kenshin's injuries were to that extent… what move did he teach you anyway? I know it has to have been something powerful…"

"……"

Seto stared at the floor. Megumi gently patted his good shoulder.

"I'm all done. Go ahead and take a nice long afternoon nap, I'm sure you could use it."

Megumi bowed before she left Seto and the still unconscious Kenshin alone in the room.

Seto looked to Kenshin who was breathing softly. Hesitantly, Seto gently traced a finger across the scar on Kenshin's cheek.

"Kenshin… what you said to me… I know I can do it. Somehow, someway, I will."

Gently holding his Feather-Sword Pendant, Seto smiled.

"After all, I have a miracle on my side…"

Yawning, Seto lay down on his floor mat and spread the blanket over himself, settling in for a nice nap.

"Good evening, Marth, how many for supper?"

"Two, Tae, it's me and Seto."

Walking into the Akabeko, they sat down at their table and Tae took their orders.

"Let's see, two rice bowls, salmon sushi, and beef stew? I see. Give me a few minutes."

She walked off, leaving Marth and Seto to talk.

"So, Seto how was your day?"

"Pretty good, pretty good."

Marth said,

"Sano and Oguma gave you a good workout, I presume?"

Seto laughed.

"I'm never chopping firewood again!"

"And how was lunch with the girls?"

"The sushi was delicious, and it was nice talking with them."

"What did you talk about? Just wondering."

"Actually," Seto said, "if I end up being fired, I might live here at the Kamiya Dojo. If by some miracle I'm not fired, I plan to go every so often to Aritia and the Meiji Era to visit you guys."

Marth almost leapt from the table.

"Seto, wow! That would be awesome!"

"I know!"

Tae walked over with their rice.

"Thanks Tae!" said Marth and Seto simultaneously.

She smiled and said,

"I'll be back shortly with your sushi. My, you both are so nice!"

Marth smiled at Seto, but his eyes showed that he was speaking seriously.

"And what about the move Kenshin taught you? Was it powerful?"

"It really was powerful. It was the ama-kakeru-ryu-no-hirameki."

Marth looked confused.

"What move is that?"

"The final attack of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. Kenshin was worried to teach it to me so early, but he figured that it may be the only way to defeat Pegasus."

"So this ama-kakeru thing really was powerful? But how did Kenshin end up hurt?"

"I had to attack him in order to use it, he said, and I obeyed him, though not at first. Megumi said I was lucky I had used a sakabato against him, if not, Kenshin-"

"Here's that sushi!"

Seto was thankful Tae had interrupted at that moment.

Marth looked down.

"I see…"

"And so," Seto said with a mouthful of sushi, "I made a promise from then on out that I will defeat Pegasus for him."

Marth smiled.

"I knew it, Seto! You've got more confidence now."

Seto nodded.

Continuing, Marth added,

"I remember Mokuba said that when it came to dueling, you never put much heart into your cards. Except for your Blue Eyes White Dragon, of course. But as a swordsman, you've proven to have as much power in heart as well as technique. I know I can't compare, but I truly do believe you will be a better swordsman than a duelist. Not because of skill or technique… but for your heart."

Seto blushed and smiled in an embarrassed way.

"Thanks…"

Thinking for a moment, he reached into his pocket and held out a Duel Monsters Card to Marth.

"Look at it, tell me what you think."

He admired the holographic foil in the background.

"It's a beautiful card, with a beautiful dragon. Is it one of those Duel Monsters?"

"Yes, and it's a very special one to me. The Blue Eyes White Dragon."

"You mean like the one Mokuba-"

"Yes, Marth. That one."

The prince stroked a finger across the dragon's portrait before handing it back to Seto.

Seto commented,

"If I had a REAL Blue Eyes, there'd be nothing to stop me from beating Pegasus. I only wish there was some way…"

Miss Tae finally came back with their beef stew.

"I'll be back with your bill in a minute, Marth."

"Okay, thanks."

Seto spent the rest of dinner eating and thinking. Kenshin taught him a new sword move and Marth helped him find confidence through his most valuable card…

Seto smiled softly.

Maybe he had a chance after all!

After a good night's rest, Marth and Roy woke Seto and Mokuba softly.

"Get up guys, it's time to go."

Mokuba and Seto both found themselves with a load of clothes in their arms.

"Put it on," Marth said to Seto. "It's my finest set of battle clothes, and I want you to wear it."

Roy nodded to Mokuba. "Same here."

Mokuba had the easiest time changing, he had less clothes. A scarlet tunic with golden embroidery diving around sleeves and neck, white pants, and a leather strap with a golden buckle as a sling for the blowtorch.

Seto however…

His looks were beyond words.

A pale blue tunic with navy colored embroidery like Roy's, only the design was different. He wore a breast-plate of black armor over it. He had pale blue pants and white boots made of glorious material. There was also a white belt with a fancy blue scabbard decorated with sapphires and emeralds. However, now Seto also had a white cape around his shoulders and it was fastened firmly with a pin made of red stone, most likely rubies.

The two Kaiba brothers gazed at their reflections in a mirror.

"We look…"

"…like heroes…" Mokuba finished.

Marth smiled.

"Not Seto, though."

Seto turned to Marth, confused.

Marth added,

"I meant, you're missing something, is all. And I know what it is."

Reaching up to his silky and shiny dark blue hair, he removed the golden headband with a ruby he always wore.

"My sister, Ellis, gave this to me before she died. She told me to take it for good luck."

Ignoring the blue bangs falling into his face, Marth slid the headband into Seto's hair.

"Marth, your headband…"

He smiled.

"Take it with you… for good luck."

Seto looked down at the ground, sad to be leaving after all his friends had done to help him.

"Marth…"

He put his hands on Seto's shoulders.

"You look like a true hero! Now, let's have breakfast and head for the gateway to Fortius Plateau!"

Sheida, Kaoru, Sano, Oguma, Megumi, Roy, Yahiko, and guests Ayame, Suzumi, and Dr. Gensai had come to bid the Kaibas farewell.

Seto looked to the gate. There were carvings in the wall of the letters he had gathered, and all he had to do was put them in place, and the gate would be opened at last. He began place the letters in.

_For Serenity…_

F

_For my friends…_

O

_Against the evil ways of Pegasus…_

R

_For my brother…_

T

_For Espa and the IDA…_

I

_For the children and the universe…_

U

_And for Kenshin and Marth and the world of light!_

S

The gate swung open slowly, and Seto could see the massive landform towering behind some trees.

Mokuba gulped softly.

"This is it, Seto. What we've worked for. Once we finish here, it's all over."

"I know."

"Then why do you seem sad, big brother?"

"It's just…"

He turned around to look at the people he was saying goodbye to.

Kaoru smiled and waved. Then Sheida. Then Oguma and Sano. Megumi was crying, but she was also waving goodbye. Dr. Gensai and his granddaughters were waving to them. Yahiko and Roy were shouting messages of luck to Mokuba and Seto.

Then Seto saw it.

Supporting Kenshin with his shoulder, Marth walked out to wave goodbye as well.

Calling out, Kenshin said,

"Good luck Seto! I know you can do it! Believe in yourself! Never give up! Goodbye! Reach for the light!"

Seto smiled confidently and waved as he walked towards Fortius Plateau. He waved until he could no longer see his friends.

It felt great to have them as friends. But then Seto remembered what he was really fighting for. The world and the children.

_Serenity…_

He gazed into the sky. It was pretty cloudy out, possibly a sign of rain to come.

Then he turned to his younger brother.

"So, Mokuba…" he grinned. "Are you ready to save the world?"

Mokuba patted his sling.

"You bet! Race ya to the plateau!"

Seto laughed and began chasing his brother.

Guard was now getting heavier around Fortius Plateau. Seven men were already planning to take out the Kaiba brothers from the very top of Fortius Plateau, where Serenity was being held.

"So those two guys think they're pretty slick? We've gone easy on them so far."

"Yeah, just wait till they deal with us."

"We're lucky that Master put in that new vise chamber." (((bijoukaiba: I think that's the term in movies for the pits where the walls gradually close in on the people trapped inside until they're smushed flat.)))

"Uh-huh! They'll never escape! It'd take a miracle!"

Pegasus had apparently brought technology from the future with him. His guards had radio communicators.

"So us six will go to prepare the pit, and you will stay here?"

"Yes. Radio me if anything goes wrong."

He tossed a controller to a soldier.

"You're my most trusted ally; you use this to control the pit. We made two controllers, one to shut the pit, one keeps it open. You merely hold down the button to shut it. Same thing for the other one, as long as I hold this button, the pit stays open."

"Right, we're on our way right now."

As the six men ran off, the seventh man turned to Serenity in her cage.

"So, how does it feel? Knowing that they're gonna be squished flat trying to save you?"

Not waiting for an answer, he turned around. He put the controller into his back pocket, but it fell out without him noticing. Serenity caught it and looked at it.

_I better keep this safe._

She tucked it into the folds of her kimono.

Seto and Mokuba had taken a break from their walking.

"Kinda annoying," Mokuba said, "that we'll also have to climb and scale the plateau."

Seto nodded.

"Yeah, but maybe there's some way we could reach the top without climbing."

"Hey Seto,"

"Hmm?"

"I just thought I'd let you know that I'm wishing you good luck. I have a feeling it will be you and you alone who faces Pegasus in the bitter end."

Seto smiled.

"I'm glad fate made you my little brother. Come on, let's get going."

A guard, hiding behind a tree, grabbed Mokuba quickly and quietly. In an attempt for rescuing, Mokuba shouted even though he was muffled.

Seto turned around.

"Mokuba?"

His brother was missing again. He heard a rustle in the grass and went to investigate.

He walked into a clearing where a large pit was.

Mokuba was being dragged towards the chamber despite his struggles to break free.

Seto drew his sword and charged towards the enemy carrying his brother.

_I better save my energy to fight Pegasus, so I won't use the attack Kenshin taught me yesterday._

"Ryu-Jut-Sen!"

A rip in the guard's shoulder blade made him throw Mokuba into the pit. Seto slashed out at his opponent, who fell.

"Start the vise!"

The overseeing guard pressed the button down on his controller. The walls began to shift and slowly close in on Mokuba.

Seto turned to where the sound came from. He HAD to get the controller.

Four soldiers all attacked him at once.

"Do-Ryu-Sen! Dancing Blade! Ryu-Kazi-Sen!" Seto cried, whipping his blade to attack.

The foes had fallen, but not without bruising Seto and leaving him with cuts along his body.

He ran towards the enemy soldier who still stood.

"Drop that controller!"

He merely drew out his own blade and began to fence with Seto, using a free hand to hold the controller.

He backed Seto towards the edge until he began to lose his balance. Just before he fell, he drove his sword through the body of his enemy.

The soldier was shocked at what had happened. He looked at Seto, then at the blade through his body, then collapsed as Seto withdrew his blade. However, because of how he fell, it gave Seto the extra inch necessary to send him flying into the pit.

And as luck would have it, the soldier had fallen on the controller, but didn't break it.

Seto fell onto his back in the pit and blacked out.

Mokuba ran over to his older brother.

"Seto! Big brother! Please, wake up!"

Tears were forming in his eyes.

"Come on, Seto. You're the only way we can get out of here. The walls are closing in on-"

He stopped in mid-sentence, noticing the walls had stopped their caving in.

"Huh? But… how?..."

Atop Fortius Plateau, Serenity had pressed the button to stop the pit's closing.

"Someone fell in, I know it." She whispered. "I don't know who, but I've got to take the chance it's an IDA agent… otherwise… there's no hope for those children. I just hope whoever's down there gets out okay…"

Seto opened his eyes to see the relieved face of Mokuba.

"Oh, Seto!"

"The walls stopped…"

"Yeah, I don't know how, but as long as they're open, let's figure out some way to escape."

"The sooner, the better. There's only about twelve feet of thinking space left anyway."

The guard atop Fortius Plateau finally saw Serenity with the controller.

"Hey, what are you doing with that?"

He snatched it away from her.

"No, please-don't-"

"You bitch! Didn't anyone teach you not to interfere with other people's plans?"

"NO!" Serenity cried as he threw the controller to the ground. It shattered like glass.

The walls began to close again.

"Or not," Mokuba said, stepping backwards so he was back-to-back with his older brother.

"We're doomed. We're dead. It'll take a frickin' miracle to get out of here alive."

Seto stopped staring at the walls at his brother's comment.

_Miracle?_

Reaching into the collar of his tunic, he pulled out his good luck charm for the past three days.

The Feather-Sword Pendant.

He remembered what the Nikotayos had said.

_"According to the legends, you will be granted one miracle. Use it well."_

Seto foraged through his pocket for his dueling deck, and then shuffled through the cards madly. The walls were about ten feet apart.

At last he found the right card, the one he had been scanning for.

He put the rest of his deck into his pocket. Eight feet separated the walls.

Mokuba held onto his brother tightly.

"BIG BROTHER, WE'RE GONNA DIE!!! GOODBYE, SETO!!!"

Seto shut his eyes and held the Feather-Sword Pendant in his hand. He raised his other hand holding the card to the sky.

"I've never believed in miracles until I met Kenshin and Marth and the Nikotayos. But now I feel my faith stronger than ever! I hope that this pendant can harness the power of shadow magic. PLEASE, FEATHER-SWORD PENDANT, BRING YOUR MIRACLE UPON ME!!!"

Since both of their eyes were shut, Seto and Mokuba didn't see what happened. A bright flare of red light and fire, much like the Flarenix swooped around them, then it transformed itself underneath the Kaiba brothers into the legendary dragon Seto had put his heart into for his entire life.

The Blue Eyes White Dragon triumphantly carried Seto and Mokuba into the sky with a mighty and loud roar.

Seto and Mokuba opened their eyes. Seto, sitting in front with his legs on either side of the dragon's neck, looked at the card. The image had almost completely faded from the card.

Mokuba was in awe, sitting behind the shoulders not too far from Seto. He gently touched the dragon's scales to see if it was real. It was. Its scales were beautifully shiny; they reflected Mokuba's face.

"Seto- h-how?..."

Seto smiled and held up his Feather-Sword Pendant, now a dull green instead of bright and glossy.

"Feather-Sword Pendant, produced by the Nikotayo Company. For emergency use only. Grants you one miracle."

Mokuba screamed in joy and hugged his big brother.

"Seto, you're the best!"

He raised a fist into the air and shouted.

"DON'T I KNOW IT! Pegasus, watch out! I got a DRAGON on my side!"

Mokuba laughed.

"And now we don't have to climb the plateau."

Seto smirked.

"You're right, I never thought of that."

Serenity sobbed and the guard laughed cruelly.

"What a pity! Get it? PIT-y? That might have been your only escape, but they got smashed!"

She looked up into the sky, even darker and cloudier before. Serenity sighed and looked into her hands sadly.

"No…"

He continued laughing until suddenly a fireball struck him, and the force of it knocked him off the plateau and killed him instantly.

The wind began to blow powerfully in Serenity's hair.

"What the-?"

Through the clouds she eventually caught sight of the dragon flying closer to the plateau.

"The Blue Eyes?! Then that can only mean…"

The dragon came closer until Serenity identified the figure sitting on its neck.

"Seto… Kaiba?!"

The dragon hovered beside the plateau. Serenity reached out her hand to him from the cage, and he reached to her from the dragon. He stretched out at his farthest and at last his fingertips met hers, even though Seto almost fell off his dragon.

"Serenity, I…" Seto felt his face go red.

She smiled, a faint red glow on her face as well.

"You came to save me? Thank you."

"I promise, no, I swear, we're gonna land and get you out of there."

Mokuba nodded, patting the blowtorch.

"That's right," he said. "Those children need you."

Serenity switched her vision point to something in the distance and a small gasp rose in her throat.

Seto turned around.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I thought I saw something…"

Seto shrugged and heaved himself onto his dragon, which flew over to the other side of the plateau to land. As they climbed off the Blue Eyes, Mokuba held out a hand.

"What's up, Mokuba?"

"It's started to drizzle a bit."

Seto wiped a raindrop from his cheek.

"Guess so."

At last, Seto ran forward to Serenity's cage with Mokuba.

While the younger Kaiba picked the lock, Serenity spoke with Seto.

"Espa sent you?"

"Yeah, but for me, it later became less about the IDA and more about… well…"

He held her hand for the first time.

She looked deeply into his blue eyes.

"Kaiba, I-"

"Looks like I've just witnessed an attempted rescue!"

"Him!"

Seto turned around.

A large masked figure levitated in the air, hovering around them. The mask was a dark orange color, with black stripes painted all over it in intricate designs. It would've been beautiful… if it wasn't evil. The masked figure laughed.

"Kneel all those that stand here before me!"

Serenity changed from her grateful mood into a malicious one.

"Never!"

While Mokuba picked at the lock, she reached over his shoulder and grabbed the blowtorch off his shoulders.

"Hey, what are you-"

"Trust me," she said. "I know what I'm doing."

"But that's mine!"

Ignoring him, Serenity charged up the blowtorch and fired a shot at the masked figure. It flared a bit from impact, but had no effect on their foe.

Seto tried to reason with her.

"Hey, um, you know that's not doing anything-"

"Shut up! Stay out of this! It WILL work!"

He frowned.

"See if I care! I'll keep you posted on the weather."

He held out a hand to catch a few raindrops then gazed into the sky at his foe.

The light drizzle quickly changed into a heavy downpour of rain.

Seto looked from his opponent, to Serenity, persistent with the blowtorch.

He rolled his eyes.

_She'll never beat him that way…_

As he began to think, his hand touched the hilt of his blade. Seto withdrew it, and as he gazed at it, he remembered what Kenshin had said.

_You are a true swordsman for your heart, not for your power._

Sheathing his blade, Seto put his hand up to his head, pondering the message. He felt Marth's headband in his hair.

_Take it with you, for good luck._

Seto sighed.

"I get the message!" He shook his head. "I'm gonna totally get myself killed doing this… oh well."

Looking around for any impending danger to his brother and Serenity, Seto ran for his dragon.

The masked figure reached an evil hand up to the sky and a warp formed, sucking him up.

"What?" Serenity shouted. "No fair!"

Seto, mounting his dragon, looked up into the sky as his creature took flight.

_Guess I'm following up there…_

Serenity and Mokuba had been paying no attention to Seto until the roar of a dragon caught their attention.

They watched as the dragon circled the plateau then curved up at an eighty degree angle to fly into the warp.

Just before they entered, Seto drew his sword and clenched his teeth.

It was all up to him, the one person that was the weakest link in the IDA, in this final battle of life or death that would determine the fate of the universe!!!

Bijoukaiba: This will probably be my longest chapter of all. After all, Seto's fighting for the universe! Also, wish Seto, Kenshin, Marth, and the IDA a happy anniversary! I published Dragon Emblem one year ago, on September 15, 2003. So submit your reviews! The climax of the story is here!


	10. Triumph of the Dragon

Dragon Emblem

bijoukaiba: Finally. I guess it's about time I got to finishing this story, eh? To all my reviewers, you've been a big help. Dragon Emblem's gonna turn two soon! opens up a gift from a random person Potty-training pants?

Although I started out proud of this fanfic, I was a naive child back then, only around the age of 13. The places and characters are WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY out of character, and I mostly threw in all that cursing to try show everyone that Yu-Gi-Oh! has been edited SEVERELY by 4Fags. I always pictured this in my mind as (braces for laughter) a webfilm, so I somehow ended up having the characters using dialogue to describe the scenery. Man, I WAS such a loser. Now that I'm going on fifteen, I'm not as stupid as I once was, lol. I've also gotten to be a YAOI fangirl, beware my bared teeth, lol! I also wrote this because I used to hate Pegasus... but now I'm quite the fangirl of Pegasus-sama too, lol! I love him in the Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! with his English comments!

Anyways, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Rurouni Kenshin, or Fire Emblem.

Chapter 10: Triumph of the Dragon

Mokuba and Serenity watched as Seto flew into the portal that the masked figure had opened.

"That idiot!" Serenity shouted, as Mokuba finally picked the lock, setting her free. "He can't face that guy alone with a dragon!"

"Yeah..." Mokuba said, his voice trailing off. "... but he has a sword, too." He finished with a smirk. Serenity looked at him as if he were stupid.

"A little insurance couldn't hurt." she said.

As she crawled out of the cage she had been in, feeling like a stray dog, she pulled out a communicator and called the IDA.

"General Espa?"

The voice on the other side came through rather fuzzy, but still clear enough to be understood.

"_Serenity? Is that you? Marvelous! I guess that means that Kaiba was successful after all..."_

"Listen to me," she said, her voice taking on a serious tone. "You need to send someone over here. Now. Kaiba's doing something to risk the fate of us all, and I really don't want to risk more people getting hurt."

_"What! Just what is that moron planning to do!"_

"He's fighting against some villain..." she said. "With only a sword and a dragon."

_"Kaiba, that idiot! Is he trying to get us all killed? I'll send someone over quickly! Espa out!"_

"Serenity out!" She clicked off her communicator. "Don't worry. Someone's on the way to help your brother."

As they gazed up at the sky that was growing blacker and blacker, Mokuba spoke.

"That's good. Because I have a feeling Seto's going to need all the help he can get."

All around Japan, people gazed up into the sky and wondered what the black miasma was. From the poor couple Seto had assisted when he fought Morpho, to the Nikotayo tribe, to even Wooly.

"Go on, Seto!" the mammoth trumpeted. "Give them what for!"

As Kenshin and Marth gazed out at the blackening sky, they only had one person on their minds.

_Seto-san..._

The scenery resembled a pitch-black night sky, with stars of light soaring all around Seto. Fearing he was in space, he held his breath tightly until he couldn't take it anymore and inhaled. Oxygen, the gas of life, seemed to be abundant in this dark void. Seto gazed around in surprise. Although his enemy could be anywhere, the space-like atmosphere was rather pretty. It was ominous yet peaceful at the same time.

"Looking for me?" Came an all-too-familiar voice. Seto glared at the source of the voice, the masked figure. "_You._"

The dark orange mask with the wild black stripes spoke again. "That's all you have to say to me? I feel so unloved... after all..." The mask flipped over to reveal the true face of his enemy... it looked like a large, floating version of Pegasus's head and two hands levitating in midair, as if from nowhere.

Seto gazed at it in shock, then remembered about what Wooly had said. _This must be the ultimate extent of his shadow magic crap..._

"I've been looking forward to this day," Pegasus continued, "And seeing you again, Kaiba-boy!"

"Pegasus!" Seto snarled.

"And now," Pegasus continued, a wicked smile curving its way onto his face, "to destroy the IDA! Who better to start with than my old enemy, ne? Say hello to a new world order!" With that, he... flipped faces to reveal the masked figure again.

Seto gripped his sword tightly as he leaned forward expectantly on his dragon. _I've got to stop him!_

He tapped his dragon on the back of the head, as if signaling an attack. It opened its mouth and fired a blast against the mask's forehead, left of a large red jewel in the middle of its forehead. The attack seemed to leave it unfazed.

Suddenly, the mask seemed to open its mouth. What was it doing? It began firing a series of bright, neon pale-blue rings at Seto, like a supersonic wavelength.

_It's just a sound wave..._ Seto thought to himself. _What's the worst it could do?_

His judgment was misleading as the rings struck the dragon. It roared out in pain. The Blue Eyes flew out of harm's way, but not before a ring managed to slice Seto's left cheek heavily. He could feel hot blood coursing down his cheek. Angrily, he wiped it away as his dragon dodged left and right until the mask stopped firing. Seto issued an attack again, this time the White Lightning blast striking the mask in the eye. It seemed to glow red, which Seto was hoping was a good sign. Two more times he hit it, until it was reduced to a faint, dull red glow, with cracks running through it.

_I think that's a good sign,_ Seto thought as the mask fired out more rings at him. When the volley had ceased, he attack each eye three times. A similar effect happened and the mask stopped moving. Seto perked up.

_Is it... over?_ An evil laugh filled the air. _Not quite._

Pegasus flipped himself over, raising his left hand (Seto's right) into the air. It also had a similar gem on it. The dragon fired at it, managing to hit it twice before it pummeled powerfully against the team of man and beast. Seto found himself struggling to pull himself back into a sitting position, before finally succeeding in doing so. Pegasus lifted his other hand and Seto shot 3 blasts from his dragon, but this time it didn't seem as effective, Seto noticed, as his dragon swerved free from Pegasus's grasp. Suddenly, a multitude of cards flew up behind Pegasus.

_That's truly an extent to his obsession..._

Suddenly, the cards began hurtling at Seto. Instinctively, the dragon began firing away, burning most cards before they could get near Seto. However, one card got away.

_It's just a card,_ Seto thought, reaching up a gloved hand to block it. Big mistake. It was as sharp as a well, sword, and it sliced a stinging gash between Seto's index finger and thumb, shredding part of the glove as it went. Another card soared past and did worse, slicing a cut into his cheek through his other scar from the sound wave, hacking in almost a 45 degree angle.

"Hmm," Pegasus said with a hint of insult in his voice. "I wonder where else I've seen a scar that ugly?"

Seto traced a finger across the scar gingerly, wiping away some of the blood trickling there. From the way it felt, the scar seemed to be in a cross shape, just like the one his sensei had.

"Shut your mouth!" Seto snarled, hurt. He had the dragon fire four bursts of energy into Pegasus's right hand, causing the hand to wilt like a rose in winter. Pegasus lifted his other hand in reply, preparing to strike when the dragon shot another blast and destroyed the gem, getting a slight wince from Pegasus.

_That's gotta stop him. It just has to!_

Pegasus flipped back to the masked side of his head again. (((A/N: StarFox fans, anything seem familiar? lol)))

Kaiba shot at the gem on his head, hitting it once, twice, three times before a volley of rings came hurtling out at him. The dragon swerved out of range, before firing two more attacks at the gem in the mask's forehead. The gem, instead of cracking further, exploded._ Good sign!_ Seto thought.

The dragon hurtled two more attacks at each eye, before the rings began firing at him again. Again, the dragon dodged before finishing the job. Seto had a feeling that he was still fighting, but he still kept hoping that each attack would mean the defeat of Pegasus.

Pegasus returned into view, lifting his hand to swipe at Seto. The dragon seemed to be getting stronger during the fight and fired four times at his hand before dodging the attempted blow. The dragon repeated the process for Pegasus's other hand. Once again, after dodging another swipe of hand, Pegasus began firing cards at Seto. The dragon tore through all of them, but just in case, Seto ducked closer against the back of the Blue Eyes. As Pegasus lifted his left hand into the air, the dragon fired twice against the hand's gem, detonating it. Pegasus winced again, this time it was a little bit more obvious to Seto.

_I really am weakening him!_ Seto thought as the dragon then proceeded to destroy the other gem. This time, the hand wilted over instead of exploding. Pegasus cried out.

Seto felt his smile widen into a smile._ This is it! It's all over!_

"Don't get too happy," replied the enemy. "It's going to get sucked away in the end!"

Pegasus opened his mouth and began to breathe deeply.

Fragments of burning cards were being pulled into his mouth and Seto soon noticed that faintly, Pegasus was getting closer and closer.

"Wait a minute," Seto turned around to see the wings of the dragon flapping as powerfully as they could, but to no avail. It took only four seconds for Seto to put two-and-two together.

Pegasus was acting like a human vacuum. He was trying to suck them up!

"No!" Seto shouted. "I won't go down like this! I'm so close! It's too humiliating!"

As Seto got near enough to touch Pegasus, he heard a blasting sound and a shout from Pegasus, who stopped inhaling. Looking up, he saw a jet carrying the IDA logo flying overhead. A ring from his communicator caught his attention. Turning it on quickly, he listened to the voice on the other side. It was from the pilot of the jet.

"Nice time jet, ne? Hey Kaiba!" Came his voice. Kaiba was startled yet relieved at the same time. "Different time, different place, and you still need Yugi's help! Great to see ya, buddy! Leave your communicator on, I got a strategy for ya."

The dragon flew backwards, a safe distance from Pegasus, before Yugi spoke again.

"Hey, Kaiba! I'm gonna fly by and apply a layer of liquid nitrogen as I go! Based on the energy in your dragon's attacks, it should freeze Pegasus and give you a pathway!"

"Pathway to where?"

"To Pegasus, you! If you've studied swordsmanship as much as you've said you have, then you should be able to use a powerful attack on him!"

"What's Pegasus's strength looking at right now?" Kaiba asked, as his dragon swerved an attack from a barrage of cards.

"He's only got a fourth of his maximum power left," Yugi replied. "Depending on what you use, you may be able to take him down within a couple moves or so! I'm flying by now, go for it!"

As Yugi flew overhead, Kaiba could see a blue mist falling before him. He kicked against his dragon and had it fire a blast of energy right at Pegasus's face. Sure enough, It froze immediately, all the way to Pegasus, who had been stopped.

Seto leapt off his dragon, communicator strapped to his belt. He was hesitant as he landed on the frozen surface, unsure if he would freeze up as well or go sliding off into space, but it felt almost like tiled floor under his feet.

"What move should I use?" Kaiba asked, brandishing his sword.

"Anything powerful!"

Kaiba smirked. _Way ahead of you._ He ran forward towards Pegasus.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style... Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki!" The sword struck Pegasus powerfully and he cried out.

"How was that?" Kaiba asked. "Awesome!" Yugi replied. "That took out one twelfth of his power! Two more attacks like that and it's over!"

Kaiba backed up again before getting a good running start.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style... Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki!"

Pegasus yelled in pain. "Great! He's down to his final twelfth of energy! Finish him off, Seto!"

"I can't believe it!" Seto cried out in pride as he ran back, preparing for his final attack.

_I can't believe this!_ Pegasus thought. _No, no, no! It won't end like this!_ With a surge of energy, despite the pain, Pegasus swept his hand forward and caught Seto before he could finish his attack. "...Ama-Kake-"

He clenched his fist as tightly as he could. Seto felt as though his ribs were being dissolved into dust. Pegasus threw him against the pathway. Seto hit the ground, then flipped over twice painfully onto his back.

"Kaiba!" came the voice from the communicator. He had landed on it and partially cracked the speaker on it, so Yugi's voice came back with crackling static. Kaiba lifted his head for a moment, seeing Pegasus's smiling face floating before him, then let it fall back against the path. His dragon had flown over and began nudging him gently.

Enraged, Yugi took up the blasters in his hands and began firing at Pegasus. After a barrage of ten shots, his hand exploded at last.

"Big deal," Pegasus commented, rolling his eyes. "It's over. I've won. Kaiba's down for good."

_It can't be..._ Kaiba thought, forcing himself to sit up again. He slowly stood up, trembling slightly as he did. Wincing at a bullet-shot sensation in his knee, he shook his head. Seto could feel his newly acquired scar burning slightly. He picked his sword up off the ground and stared at his reflection. It was as if his face had merged with Kenshin's.

"It's time to set things right." Seto said, gripping his sword tighter than ever.

"Listen, Yugi-boy," Pegasus continued. "Victory has spoken to me today. I am the best today. And it will continue to be that way forever."

"Really?" Shouted Yugi within his jet so Pegasus could hear him. "I'm hearing the voice of victory myself today too! You wanna hear it?"

Pegasus frowned as he listened carefully.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Style..." A faint voice said behind him. _No! It can't be!_ Pegasus turned around just in time to see Seto leaping towards him, sword in hand.

"AMA-KAKERU-RYU-NO-HIRAMEKI!"

It seemed as it if was all a dream when Seto landed after his final attack. Pegasus bore a large slash across his face. He climbed upon his dragon and they flew off, just as Pegasus gave a final cry of "NOOOOOOOO!" before at last, he too exploded in a beautiful array of flames and red lights.

Seto turned around behind him, watching the final effects of the explosion. Yugi's voice rang out clearly in joy through his communicator.

"YOU DID IT! Kaiba, that was- you were- that final attack- WOW! You are a true hero! I'm making sure word of this gets out to General Espa!"

Yugi flew off in his jet, Kaiba waving after him as he went, flying towards a small rift in the darkness. At last, it was over.

The light had triumphed over darkness at last.

Mokuba and Serenity watched as the darkness around them evaporated.

"What's going on?" Serenity asked.

"One of them has to have won," Mokuba replied. "I just hope..."

A roar filled their ears as they gazed upwards, overjoyed at the sight before them.

Seto and the Blue Eyes landed and they ran towards the new hero happily.

"BIG BROTHER! YOU DID IT!"

"We never doubted you!" Serenity said with a smile as the brothers embraced.

Seto hoisted his brother onto the dragon.

"Thanks," he said, before holding out his hand to her.

Smiling, she took it and climbed onto the dragon with his help. Clinging to Seto tightly, the Kaiba brothers and Serenity flew back to the Kamiya Dojo.

Yahiko and Roy were practicing their moves with each other when a scream caught their attention.

"Megumi!" they shouted, running over. Soon they were screaming too, at the sight of a large dragon landing before them.

Marth, Oguma, Sanosuke, and Kenshin raced outside.

"Roy! Yahiko! What's wrong?" Marth shouted, before noticing the dragon. As he drew his sword, he heard a friendly voice.

"Relax, this dragon's on our side!" Seto said, leaping off before lending a hand to Serenity. Sheida and Kaoru, also hearing the familiar voice, came outside too.

"Serenity!" Kaoru exclaimed, hugging her. "You're okay!"

"Thanks to Seto I am!" she said, returning the embrace. Sheida patted his shoulder. "Way to go, hot stuff."

Seto couldn't help but grin. At last, the face he had been searching for emerged amidst his cheering squad.

"Kenshin."

"Seto-san." The rurouni stepped closer to Seto. "I never doubted you. You truly have found the heart of swordsmanship."

"I would be nothing without you." Seto admitted, gazing down at the ground shyly. Kenshin was silent for a moment. Seto returned his gaze to him, who smiled like a proud father.

Kenshin stepped even closer and embraced Seto, tears in the rurouni's eyes.

"I would be nothing without you too, Seto." He said, hugging him closer. Marth found himself wiping away a tear proudly, before shrugging and embracing Seto and Kenshin as well.

Kaiba didn't care how awkward he felt. He returned the embrace to both of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Roy, Yahiko, and Mokuba exchanging hugs as well.

"I hate to break up this reunion," came a female voice, "But Kaiba's wanted back at the IDA hall."

It was Mai, finally free of her wheelchair.

"Espa wants a word with you," she commented. "So let's go. I got the aircraft here and Yugi's waiting to fly us off." Kaiba looked at his dragon.

"Will Blue Eyes be able to go with us?"

"Ne, I suppose so. As long as it doesn't 'go' on the ship, I'm all right with it."

Seto looked at Mokuba and Serenity, walking off with Mai. Impatiently, she turned around.

"Yo! Kaiba! You coming or not!"

Kaiba frowned for a moment, before jogging back to the dojo.

"Seto?" Marth asked.

"I'm not sure how much space there'll be, but..." He sighed for a moment. "Kenshin, Marth, you guys are coming too."

Kenshin and Marth looked back at the others.

"It's all right! We don't mind!" Oguma replied cheerfully.

"Have a great time you three!" Megumi spoke in a sing-song voice, annoying Kaoru and Sheida to high heaven.

As Seto and his sensei boarded the aircraft, Kenshin asked Seto a question.

"So, we're going back to the future?"

"Yeah... but I'm wondering what Espa wants to see me about..."

When at last the time-traveling aircraft landed in modern day Japan, it gave a slight sputter.

"Gotta remind Espa to get that fixed," Yugi commented to Mai. She nodded. "It probably won't take too many trips after this." She agreed. Rebecca came running up to them.

"Hey Mokuba! Hey guys!"

"Rebecca?" Serenity asked. Suddenly, the younger girl began pushing against them immediately. "No time! Espa wants to see you right now! Just go, don't worry about getting all dressy looking!"

The seven heroes walked into the main hall, where a large party seemed to be held. Every member of the IDA was there, from Rex Raptor and Insector Haga to Mako Tsunami and Honda Hiroto. Rebecca gently shoved Seto towards the stage and nodded for the others to follow.

"Go on," she said, "Espa's waiting!"

Silence filled the area in respect for the new hero and the General.

"Good evening," Espa said, smiling at his soldiers. "Today is a great victory for the IDA. Let us hear it for Seto Kaiba!"

The audience immediately rose into applause for the teenager, who walked over and shook hands with Espa.

"Seto," Espa said as the spotlight fell onto them, "I was considering what to do about your reward. First off, what you have done is amazing. A mission of you magnitude may have taken two or three weeks for even some of our best agents, yet you return to us in a little over a week."

He paused as a few whistles came from the crowd.

"Anyways," Espa continued, "you will need a bit more training in the field of basic IDA lessons- weapon handling, driving our vehicles and what not- but..." His voice trailed off a little bit.

"Despite your inexperience, I believe you are ready to lead your own team! Serenity would be glad to join, (he paused as she and the other six stepped closer to Seto) Mokuba and Rebecca would have a chance to prove their skills, and Yugi and Mai have grown weary as solo agents... yes! This would make a fine team indeed!"

"One thing," Seto replied, stepping in between Kenshin and Marth. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "These two are going to be members of my team too. Either they're in or I'm out."

Espa laughed. "Seto, you take things too seriously! They are more than welcome on your team! Now then, as for your uniforms..."

He held up a silver-colored jacket with blue sleeves, then turned it around to show the insignia of a Blue Eyes White Dragon embroidered beautifully and impressively into the back.

"You bear the emblem of the Blue Eyes White Dragon; therefore, I think it would be only natural to identify yourselves as the Dragon Emblem Team! What do you think?"

Seto held out a jacket to Marth.

"I think I like it!"

"Then it's settled!" Espa cheered. "The new team with its new heroic leader is formed! Three cheers for Seto Kaiba and Dragon Emblem!"

Everyone roared in acclaim. "Dragon Emblem! Seto Kaiba!"

Espa shook hands with Seto, Kenshin, Marth, Serenity, Mokuba, Yugi, Mai, and Rebecca. "Now then," he said smiling, "I think it's time for a celebration, don't you?"

Music filled the air and balloons fell from a net tied up to the ceiling. Dancing, laughter and shaking hands with the new leader filled the night. Seto and Serenity got to dance to a slow song (while chuckling slightly at how short Yugi was compared to his partner, Mai) and got to share a kiss. For Seto, that was all the reward he could have asked for from his mission.

Then there were laughs thrown in, too. Espa, Honda, and Mokuba had a karaoke competition (with Honda coming out on top in a humorous fashion) and when a conga line was formed Kenshin was made leader (despite a few shouts of "Oro!"). Seto knew that he was having the best night of his life. Nothing could ever tear him away from Kenshin and Marth. Nothing.

Several hours passed, and soon everyone was passed out asleep. Some were sleeping in chairs, others had ended up in funnier situations. Jounouchi had fallen asleep with the punch bowl tilted over his head and Mokuba had crawled up into the balloon net and was using it as a high-elevation hammock.

Seto shook his head suddenly, waking up from his seat. On his left shoulder, Kenshin had fallen asleep and was leaning against him. Seto looked at a clock nearby.

3:57 am.

Espa came walking over, smiling softly at Seto.

"Will you come with me please? I'm sorry, but Kenshin and Marth should go with you too."

Hearing this, Seto gently shook Kenshin awake and then walked over to where Marth was lying asleep on a table using a Twister game sheet as a blanket and woke him up too. Tired, they followed Espa to a small room close to his office.

Inside it was a time booth. It resembled a shower stall with a black curtain, and inside it the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of mirrors.

"Seto," Espa said softly, a hint of sorrow in his voice, "it's time."

"Four a.m. already?" Seto asked with a yawn, looking at his watch.

"No," Espa replied. "I mean, the time pods are badly broken, the jets' time-travel option is broken, and even this device probably only has one transport left in it."

"You mean..." Seto's voice trailed off as he gazed back sadly at Kenshin and Marth, returning his sorrow-filled eyes.

"It's time to say goodbye, Seto." Espa bowed his head sadly.

"It's okay," Marth said hopefully, "I mean, surely you can get these things fixed, right?"

Espa looked at him and shook his head in regret.

"These things aren't easy to fix. For one, it's really hard to find someone who can. Two, it's just a hard process all in itself, and three, it costs an awful lot of money."

Kenshin spoke in a worried voice. "What you're saying is..."

"... it may be one, two, maybe ten years before you see each other again. If a miracle occurs, you might see each other again in six months, but that'll happen the day that I beat Honda in karaoke..." Espa rolled his eyes at the last comment. He returned to his serious disposition and continued speaking sadly, "There's even a chance... you may never see each other again..."

Seto felt his heart freeze. _Never again? _Kenshin and Marth appeared to be thinking the same thing.

"I'll have to explain this to Oguma and the others," Marth whispered softly. It was clear he was close to tears.

Kenshin placed a reassuring hand on the prince's shoulder. "You're always welcome to live with us at the dojo."

Espa continued sorrowfully, "I have to get the time booth ready before they go... while it warms up, I'll let you have a moment alone." He left the room and outside, turned a key in a slot to start the engine for the time booth. It sputtered for a second, then began purring softly.

"When it sounds like a loud whirring," Espa said, in a loud voice outside the door, "it'll be time to go... it's set for Meiji Era Japan, about a day after you beat Pegasus,"

Seto looked sadly at Kenshin and Marth. "I don't really know what to say," he said, "I guess I should say thank you."

"For what?" Marth asked.

"Everything," Seto continued. "The sword lessons, kindness, meals, never giving up on me... but you gave me something even deeper... friendship. I realize now that... that's all I've ever really wanted."

Kenshin smiled softly with tears in his eyes and Marth sniffled, tears leaking down his face. Seto's voice began trembling.

"I promise I will see you guys again. I promise I'll never forget what I've learned from you. I promise that we'll be friends forever... and I promise that I'm not going to cry!" Seto said, blinking quickly.

Marth pulled out his head band once again. "Here," he said. "Keep it. For good luck throughout you life."

Kenshin handed Seto a copper coin with kanji carved into it. "Keep this too, as a symbol of our promises."

The humming of the engine began to grow louder. "You have a few seconds left!" Espa shouted.

Seto reached out and hugged Kenshin and Marth at the same time with one arm.

"You guys are the best friends I've ever had..."

Kenshin and Marth returned the embrace before finally pulling away.

"Same here," they replied simultaneously.

As they stepped into the time booth, Seto whispered softly to them, "I just... can't believe that this is really... goodbye..."

They waved to him one last time before a bright light filled the time booth. Seto shielded his eyes. When the light returned to normal, the booth was empty. Kenshin and Marth had finally gone back.

Espa opened the door and walked over to Seto, patting his back gently.

"I hate to be the one to remind you of this, but..." he sighed, his voice taking on a more serious tone, "... the sooner you get to those children, the better."

Kaiba closed his eyes. _I forgot all about that... it's what Kenshin and Marth would want! They wouldn't want me to be sad! They want me to be proud! They did all this for those dying kids in Africa... and I can't let them down!_

He walked out of the room. Before he closed the door, he said, "I'm off to find Serenity. We're traveling via dragon. Right here, right now."

Seto closed the door and left Espa standing there in silent respect, pride, hope, and excitement.

bijoukaiba: **OH MY GOD.** **THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE FINAL ONE! THE EPILOGUE TO DRAGON EMBLEM! AFTER ALMOST TWO YEARS, DRAGON EMBLEM IS AT LAST GOING TO BE FINISHED.**

(turns off CAPS LOCK and **Bold type**).

This is it. It's time to get that medicine in.

Anyways, the chapter ended as a real tear-jerker for me... my nose is a little runny right now and my throat has a small lump in it, but... I PROMISE I WON'T CRY! It reminded me of StarFox when Fox and Tricky say goodbye after Fox gets the fifth Krazoa Spirit... that part almost made me cry too...

I hope you have enjoyed this story. This is your cue to review. Chapter 11 (and the final chapter) is coming soon.


	11. Reach for the Light

Dragon Emblem

bijoukaiba: It's been nearly two years... now at last, my first fanfic is coming full-circle to a close. As you can tell, my writing has greatly improved from the past. I actually feel a lump forming in my throat as I type this... it may also be because I'm listening to "A World Without Danger", the theme from Code Lyoko. Aahhh... the end is finally here. Speaking of Code Lyoko, I should write a fanfic for it... Aelita x Jeremie 4evah! MWAH! -blows a kiss- Here's to you, Dragon Emblem! -raises a can of Pepsi-

Disclaimer: I would put it here, but I'm gonna put it at the end, because it would be sort of a spoiler if I had it here.

**Recap:**

Seto has overcome many obstacles with the help of Kenshin and Marth later on. He also has Mokuba by his side to stand up to the greatest challenges. It started out as a mission for money, but as time progressed, it changed to a mission for the dying children in Africa and for the love of Serenity. He finally believes in miracles and in the power of friendship, and Seto has become a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Style. In the very end, a battle to decide the fate of the universe rested on Seto's shoulders, but he overcame darkness to bring light to all. In the very end, he had to bid farewell to his dearest friends Kenshin and Marth, but Seto Kaiba knows they will live in his heart as long as he does. Now, it is time for Seto to complete the mission he started so long ago. It is time to travel to Africa.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Chapter 11: Reach for the Light! The Mission is Complete!

Mokuba felt a tap on his shoulder. Moaning, he lifted his head groggily, his vision clearing to see the face of his brother.

"Good morning?" Mokuba asked sleepily. "What time is it?" He sat up slowly, still exhausted from the late night partying. The smell of coffee was fairly heavy on Seto's breath.

"Five fifty-eight."

Mokuba fell over with his face against the netting from the party two hours ago.

"I guess if you don't wanna say good-bye..." Seto said with a sigh. Mokuba shot back up again.

"You're JOKING, right? You've hardly had any sleep."

"None whatsoever." Seto corrected. "But that's what triple shot espresso is for!"

Mokuba sat up and climbed out of the net with his older brother, who led him outside to where the rest of the Dragon Emblem team and General Espa were waiting. The Blue Eyes had a harness strapped around its collarbone area that had the medicine (packed inside a crate that read "FRAGILE") tucked inside. Serenity was sitting between the wings of the dragon.

"Hey, where's Kenshin? And Marth?" Mokuba asked sleepily, looking around. Seto looked at the ground sadly, before mounting his dragon.

"It is time." He declared.

Espa saluted.

"Right then! I'll make sure your team is well kept!"

Seto returned the salute and Serenity waved as the Blue Eyes White Dragon flew into the sky, the rising sun behind them. The remainder of Dragon Emblem waved back.

"Good luck!" Yugi and Mokuba shouted.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Three hours passed and the dragon was still flying over the Indian Ocean. From the sky, Seto and Serenity had seen India, Indonesia, and parts of southeastern Asia.

"It's finally come full circle!" Serenity said.

Seto smiled, gazing out at the shimmering waters and the clouds below them.

_I still kinda wish Kenshin and Marth could have seen this as well..._

"You okay?" Serenity asked, looking at Seto.

"Hm? Oh yeah..."

She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Just four more hours."

Seto blushed.

"Let's hope we're still in time."

"Don't worry!" Serenity said, with a slight chuckle. "I'm an eternal optimist! Even if you have doubts... I'll keep enough hope for the both of us!"

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The nurse paced the floor inside the makeshift hospital in Kenya.

"Oh dear..." She glanced outside the window of the wooden building at the dark gray skies and the torrential downpour of rain.

She called General Espa on the communicator.

"_IDA, General Espa speaking..."_

"Espa, are you sure-"

"_Hayume! I've told you for the fourth time, Seto and Serenity will arrive at one in the afternoon!"_

"But it's one-thirty, and I'm just so worried... what if they don't make it through this storm?"

"_Relax, Hayume. I've sent one of my best agents and one of our rookie agents, who's still very impressive. This storm will be nothing for them."_

"Are you sure?"

_"Trust me. They'll be there any minute now... Hayume? Are you there?"_

On the other end of the phone, Espa heard a small thud sound.

"_Hayume?"_

Hayume stared out the window at a faint light growing closer to the hospital. As the light got closer, it got larger, and it illuminated a teenaged boy and girl running towards the hospital, one carrying a package and one carrying the lantern over them.

The next thing Espa heard was a loud whoop of joy as Hayume picked the phone up again from the floor.

"Oh, Espa, it's them! I can see them! Out the window! Hey! Hey, you two! Come here! In here!"

Espa laughed on the other end.

"_I told you! Don't shout too loud, or you'll wake the kids!"_

"Thank you so much! The IDA are truly wonderful people! Oh! I should keep my voice down, shouldn't I? But still, thank you so much! Bye!"

"_Bye!"_

Back at the IDA, Espa jumped up onto his desk and kicked a small stack of paperwork off.

"IT IS DONE!"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Before their very eyes, a young African nurse came running up to Seto and Serenity, happiness in her eyes.

"Oh! The IDA! It's really you!"

Serenity handed her the crate.

"This is for you."

Hayume took it in her arms gratefully.

"I'll see to it that the young ones get this medicine immediately! Thank you so much! I cannot express my gratitude!"

A beam of sunlight peeked out from between clouds and seemed to fall on the IDA agents, Hayume, and the crate.

"That's definitely a good sign." Seto commented.

Hayume turned around and began walking back to the hospital. Serenity and Seto began following her, but she stopped them when she spoke to them over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about the kids, they'll be okay. It might take a little while for the medicine to take effect anyway. As our honored guests from Japan, you should go exploring!"

Seto looked at Serenity.

"You heard the lady. Let's go see Kenya!"

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Seto and Serenity hardly knew where to start.

First off, they took the Blue Eyes on a flight to Kilimanjaro. By the base of the mountain, they took a picture of them with the snowy mountaintop in the background. They also snagged several snapshots of lions, zebras, elephants, and hippos.

Deciding that the Blue Eyes deserved a chance to rest its wings before the return flight home, Seto and Serenity traveled around Kenya by elephant back for local adventures.

They explored the city of Nairobi, Kenya's capital, and later (not too far from the hospital) met a Masai tribe of warriors. One of the warriors, who spoke English, heard Serenity and Seto explain the story of the medicine and their rescue mission. He explained the story to the rest of the tribe, and Seto watched as they gazed at him in honor and awe.

"I... am... great... swordsman!" He said, pointing at himself. One warrior pointed at him with a spear, remarked something to a tall male beside him in their tribal dialect, then laughed.

Seto laughed too.

_Just go along with it... even it was an insult!_

Instead, a warrior came forward carrying two of the beautifully hand-crafted bead necklaces the Masai were known for.

"For... you..." He said, speaking slowly, unsure of the foreign English tongue. He glanced at the 'translator', who nodded.

Seto and Serenity placed the necklaces around their necks then bowed to the warriors. There was a little bit more laughter, when a young man came running up to the village.

"You work for the IDA?" He asked, panting between words.

Seto and Serenity nodded.

"Hayume... wants to see you... the children..."

They gasped.

"We're there!" Seto cried, jumping onto the back of his elephant, pulling Serenity and the man up with him.

He waved to the Masai, as they rambled off towards the hospital.

ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

Hayume stood outside the hospital, tears in her eyes.

Seto could feel the same icy claws in his heart again.

_No... we weren't in time... damn it!_

Serenity and Seto leapt off and ran towards her.

"Hayume... what's wrong?" She asked.

The nurse pointed inside, a sob rising from her.

"The... children..."

Seto was first to step inside the room, fear that all that he had worked for had gone down the drain. He was fearful for the sight he might see. Instead, the sight was a joyful one.

The children that had been sick were now sitting up straight in their beds, some talking with their parents, others, who were too young to speak, were merely being hugged by their mother or father with tears in their eyes.

One mother, especially emotional, came running up to Seto bawling.

"Oh, my baby! Come see him!" She dragged Seto along before he could reply, and he found himself standing at the foot of the bed of a boy who looked to be about four.

The little boy made a squeezing gesture with his hands at Seto, who looked awkwardly at the little boy, before picking him up gently in his stronger arms.

"You wanted up, little man?"

"I wanna say thanks you!" Said the little boy, his deep chocolate eyes gazing back into Seto's blue eyes. He hugged him tightly, and Seto couldn't help but return the hug.

Soon, Serenity was hugging him, and even the boy's mother and Hayume joined in the hug.

"I did promise to bring the medicine back," Seto said, his gaze turning to the sight of leaves with water droplets clinging to the tips of them outside.

Through the colors of the setting sun, he could see two clouds that were shaped distinctly like his friends Kenshin and Marth.

"Reach for the light..." Seto whispered.

He closed his eyes.

Seto had promised to bring the medicine back, and to see his friends again, but...

_There's only one promise I'm going to have to break..._

Tears of joy finally found their way down Seto's face.

He still had the promise of friendship eternally.

_Deep in the night_

_The winds blow cold_

_And in a heartbeat_

_The fear takes hold_

_Deep in the storm_

_There's a place that's soft and still_

_Where the road waits to be taken_

_If you only will_

_The voices inside you_

_Can lead your soul astray_

_Believe in what you dream_

_Don't turn away_

_Don't you turn away_

_Reach for the light_

_You might touch the sky_

_Stand on the mountaintop_

_And see yourself flying_

_Reach for the light_

_To capture a star_

_Come out of the darkness_

_And find out who you are_

_Somewhere in time_

_The truth shines through_

_And the spirit knows_

_What it has to do_

_Somewhere in you_

_There's a power with no name_

_It can rise to meet the moment_

_And burn like a flame_

_And you can be stronger_

_Than any fear you know_

_Hold onto what you see_

_Don't let it go_

_Don't you let it go_

_Reach for the light_

_You might touch the sky_

_Stand on the mountaintop_

_And see yourself flying_

_Reach for the light_

_To capture a star_

_Come out of the darkness_

_And find out who you are_

_There's no turning back_

_When your destiny is calling_

_Listen to the thunder roll_

_And let your heart break free_

_Reach for the light_

_Reach for the light_

_You might touch the sky_

_Stand on the mountaintop_

_And see yourself flying_

_Reach for the light_

_To capture a star_

_Come out of the darkness_

_And find out who you-_

_Reach for the light_

_You might touch the sky_

_Stand on the mountaintop_

_And see yourself flying_

_Reach for the light_

_To capture a star_

_Come out of the darkness_

_And find out who you are_

_Just reach for the light_

**FINAL DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Rurouni Kenshin, Fire Emblem, or "Reach for the Light". Yu-Gi-Oh!© Kazuki Takahashi, Rurouni Kenshin© Nobuhiro Watsuki, Fire Emblem© Nintendo, and "Reach for the Light"© Steve Winwood/Balto

WAAAAAAHOOOOOOO! It is done! That's the end of Dragon Emblem! I am planning a possible sequel to this... anyways, in the footsteps of a few of my fellow authors, it's time for a thank-you to my reviewers!

**Bijoukaiba's THANK-U LIST:**

**SuperhumanChichi: **You were one of my more loyal reviewers early on, and your reviews made me laugh so much! Thank you. The graphic romance stuff kinda freaked me out a little (oo), but also were laughable.

**dmg-duelist16: **You were one of the first official friends I made on You also became one of the authors who added me to favorites/alerts pdq (pretty darn quick). I still remember the joy I had when I saw your review on Dragon Emblem! Thanks!

**setoobsessive: **Pretty devoted for a while! I appreciated your reviews very much! They helped contribute to Dragon Emblem's newfound success.

**kurayami24: **Thanks for the compliment! And thanks for the spelling correction early on. After learning Japanese, I now have a better idea of how to spell things. I was really Americanized back when I was thirteen and early fourteen! But now I won't have to wurry abowt anny morr misteaks in speeling! (LOL)

**BlackNinjagirl: **Well, your conversations with Kaya and Seto were... interesting... lol. You also were a big help in writing my story! Gracias! And I was an avid Seto/Shizuka shipper back then... I still do sorta like Seto/Shizuka, but now I'm more of a Seto/Ryou type.

**rexraptorluvspopcorn:** POPCORN! (stuffs face full) YUM! Thanks for the popcorn and that last review there! I should have updated more often. And if you thought Chapter 10 was tear-jerking, how did this one make you feel?

**BUT MY BIGGEST THANK-YOU GOES OUT TO...**

**beriath: **We've been friends for about two years. You were the first author-friend I made on and I consider you one of my best friends overall as well. You never criticized too heavily, and reading your reviews taught me a lot about trivia, Meiji era Japan, and Japanese spellings. You helped teach me not to have everyone talking about the scenery, but let the author describe the image instead. And I'm glad you got a few laughs out of everything here or there (I gotta admit, back when I was starting out, the only good chapter that wasn't as heavily OOC was the Oracle chapter... the Morpho chapter pisses me off now! ). You even went and read a few of my other fanfics as well. I hope I see you more often in the future! I'll speak to you on Yahoo! Messenger sometime! (gives her a big hug)


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